SYDNEY STRIDERS
ROAD RUNNERS’ CLUB
AUSTRALIA
EDITION No 105
MAY
-
AUGUST
2008
Ponton premieres in pole position
A
s Australians,
we
probably
have
many
reasons to thank the
Air Force. As Striders,
we can be grateful
that the Air Force’s
decision to post nurse
Marnie Ponton to
Sydney has added
another great runner
to our athletics team.
Marnie made her
debut in the green
and white at the NSW
Cross
Country
Championships
at
Willandra on 21 June
2008, winning the
tough 8km event in a
time of 29.26.
and cross country
events of between
8km and 14km. She is
currently focused on
smashing her City to
Surf PB (which she set
the first and only time
she did the race!) of
50.40, as well as
building a strong base
for the track season.
Marnie is yet to race a
marathon, but is keen
to test herself over
that distance. She also
plans to come to
Sydney to run a STaR
shortly, so look out
for this new Striders
champion at your
next race or run.
Although new to
Sydney, Marnie has
been running since
she was 8 years old,
and started racing in
steeplechase in the
under 18 division. She
particularly
enjoys
hill and mountain
running, and is drawn
to steeplechase for its
combination of speed and strength. Marnie is
currently based in Glenbrook, so has plenty
of opportunity to test her hill running. She
also manages to fit her training sessions
around her weekend job as an emergency
nurse.
Left: Marnie employs her
unique technique for
keeping shoes clean
when running in muddy
areas
Marnie’s weekly mileage is 90 - 110km,
which includes two track sessions, a hill
session and a long run of 20 – 25km. Her
favourite events are the 3km steeplechase
Photo reproduced with
the kind permission of
Athletics New South
Wales
I N S I D E B L I S T E R 1 0 5
Mr Never Rest runs very ragged over Everest
The nitty gritty on the witty Criniti
Tim Cochrane takes time to trip to tortuous Comrades
No nonsense grab on notorious Great Nosh
Startling start to starry story about Strider STaRs
We wend our way in awe around our running awards
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Club Phone Contacts
President
Jim Moody
0411 258 589
Vice President
Brian Ogilvy
0410 694 875
Secretary
Ross McCarty
0403 557 127
Treasurer
Charles King
9816 5593
Web & Database Manager
Craig Dunn
9380 4583
Results Manager
Chris Graham
0419 162 538
Blister Editor
Dennis Wylie
0404 898 661
10k Series Director
Jo Cowan
0410 594 189
10k Timing & Results
James Moody
0411 258 589
Adam Moody
0410 766 5866
6 Foot Track Manager
TBA
6 Foot Track Run Manager
James Moody
0411 258 589
Super Series
John Van Yzendorn
9874 6927
ANSW Liaison
Glenn Guzzo
Anna White
0407 453 649
0407 893 579
MTG Co-ordinator
Phil Skurrie
0411 066 348
STaR Maps
Tony Keller
0409 463 861
Uniforms Managers
Darren & Karin Kaehne
0417 109 565
Social Functions
Chris Truscott
TBA
Internal Events
Fran Boorer
0402 464 047
0421 985 328
Volunteer Co-ordinator
Liz Woodhams
0412 396 881
New Members’ Liaison
Pauline Evans
0400 392 976
Calendar
Rob Chalmers
0410 933 140
Mailout Manager
Tina Campbell
0488 774 744
Sergeant-at-arms
Wayne Gregory
Blister Printing
Blister Contributions to:
Paper Tiger Printing
At Chippendale
[email protected]
Or Striders PO Box
Acknowledgements
Amanda Underwood (Editing, Proofreading, Research, cover editorial) Gerry
Arthur (photography) Karen Canfell (Auntie Joan) Craig Dunn (Data)
About the Blister
Quarterly journal of Sydney striders Road Runner’s Club, Inc. (Founded 1980). PO
Box R1227, Royal Exchange, Sydney NSW 1225, Australia.
Opinions published in this journal, whether expressed by members or non-member,
do not neccessarily represent the official policy of the club.
Advertising rate: $100 per edition, per page ½ page $50, ¼ page $25. Classifieds: $5
per edition, full year$20. Circulation approx 600
Copy Preferences
How many words? As a guide, 1300 words anda picture makes 2 pages. Smaller
items and letters are most welcome
How to send? Email to [email protected]
Write in a Word document and send as an attachment to your email
Font: Cambria 10pt
Photos: If posting, it’s best not to send your only copy. Send as a separate jpg file
when emailing your stories
An ex-President speaks...
At a recent STaR I headed out with the 6:10 group, but as I had only just got to
the start in time, I had to stop a few km down the road for 30 seconds. As I
chased down the pack, I caught a Strider who had fallen off the back of the pack
(already) and as I ran along side of her I made a comment about the pack in the
near distance. No response. Surprised, I made a slightly louder comment, and
then, in the darkness, noticed the white cables and earphones. Her gaze was
straight ahead, obviously bopping away to a tune, totally oblivious to my feeble
attempts at conversation. So, I took off, muttering under my breath about the
unsocial character of iPods, and caught up to the group.
About 90 minutes later we were charging through the bush, catching one of the
earlier groups, when our path was blocked by yet another Strider with
earphones firmly attached. It was a narrow track and our progress was blocked
by this Strider obviously in deep concentration on the sounds emanating from
the earpieces. He eventually realised we were there, and as I passed I started to
make disparaging remarks about the incompatibility of iPods and group runs,
when he shot back "you're un-Australian!". Taken aback, I slowed and was
quickly put in my place. Not music, cricket. All of a sudden, all was well again.
Music bad, cricket good (insert any Aussie sport being played here). A couple of
minutes was then spent cruising through the bush discussing the merits of the
West Indian and Aussie cricketers before we went off at our different paces.
Moral of the story? iPods for solo runs, radios for information for the group!
0439 895 709
By STEPHEN JACKSON
2
T
BLISTER 105
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he Himalayas are big, really big. And
in the mountains, this is a special event as it
By STEPHEN KIBBLE
Mt Everest is the biggest of the lot!
celebrates the 55th Anniversary of Hilary
And when you have run in a lot of places and are and Tenzing summiting Everest, and they see us, I think,
looking for something a bit different - a race just doesn’t as a special kind of madness that transcends
come any bigger, or any higher, or for that matter, seem mountaineering. (Ok and whoever said I was sane. ) All
longer than the Tenzing-Hilary Mt Everest Marathon.
along the course, the locals move aside to cheer and pat
you on the back as you run by, despite the fact that they
It is approaching 7am at Everest Base Camp, it is about would have seen the front runners go by, sometimes,
minus 10 degrees and I’m on the Khumbu Glacier hours earlier. Here in friendly Nepal all participants get
standing on the highest Marathon starting line in the the same enthusiastic cheers.
world. I am surrounded by incredibly high, rugged peaks
towering over 2000m or more above me, even though at Through Gorek Shep, continuing to follow the ice flow
Everest Base Camp I am standing at 5364m above sea wall for the next 11 km, to the cemetery at Thokla Pass
level (How high is that? Put it this way if you fell out of a that celebrates those brave souls who attempted to climb
plane at that height you would get 3 minutes of freefall Everest and other mountains but did not return. Up over
before you hit the
the end of the glacier
earth!) Oxygen at this
and then a steep
altitude is 50% of that
plunge down the
O N E R E A L L Y L O N G 4 2 . 2 K M ! !
at sea level. It has
front of the glacier
taken us 14 days just
and then I encounter
to get to the start-line,
a uniquely Himalayan
and I have been
problem in this race;
sleeping
on
the
a Yak train coming up
Khumbu glacier for
the hill at me. Yaks
the last two nights.
are about the size of a
Now I’m going to run
cow, are woolly, are
a
marathon
of
pack animals and
international
have huge, sharp,
standard length of
pointy horns! I check
42.195km (or 26.2
my
speed,
run
miles) following a
around, then to cries
route which will take
of “Namaste” and “go”
me back to Namchee
from the owner I am
Bazar.
through the 14 km
check-point at Dugla
7am strikes and the
(4620m) and down to
Nepalese
guide
the river.
Domch who is the
official starter yells
After crossing the
“Go!” and 120 hardy
river is the first of the
Trick photography: by standing on a very high stack of crates, Stephen
souls take off like a
big climbs. This one
creates the illusion that the 7.5k mountains are merely shoulder height.
pack
of
startled
leads to the plateau
Gazelles (ok not quite startled but definitely a little upset above Dingboche, (4500m) running along the plateau on
gazelles). In the race there are 78 Nepalese and 42 the undulating fields is pleasant and very scenic as the
foreigners representing 18 different countries. Not snow capped mountains tower all around and far below
surprisingly, the Nepalese lead the push and are out of in the valley is the pretty village of Periche 4270m).
sight before you can say “Ice Fall”, the rest of us in Across the helicopter landing pad, a short, sharp climb to
pursuit. To give you an idea of how hard this is going to the Stupa (A religious marker to the Buddha found all
be, I usually can complete a marathon in about 3 and half over this region and, for luck, you always go around them
hours or so, today it will take me over 8 and half hours, in clock-wise direction.) then a long downhill to the
even though running down hill is not too bad, the very village of Dingboche (4410m). I go around the top of the
technical terrain of rocks, ice, boulders and dusty loose village and through it, my is number noted, I pick up
scree and rubble, along with steep drops and sheer rises water and away I go.
means that this is a tough ground to run on at sea level never mind at altitude – but hey! that is why I am here; if As I hit the half waypoint at Samso Ogma (4190m) I have
was at sea level anybody could do it!
now descended some 1200m in net loss, but also have
some big climbs done – but the big TWO are still a few
The first 5 km is spent just getting off the glacier on to km ahead of me. This is now the middle stage of the race
the wall and climbing to about 5450m and then following and this is often a hard part of any marathon for many
the glacier wall past Kala Pata onto the village of Gorek racers as even though you are over half way, you are still
Shep. As we race, the locals come out to cheer us on. Here
a long way from the end.
The Mount Everest Marathon
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BLISTER 105
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In all ultra races and marathons you do reach a point where you question your
own sanity and ability to finish – it happened here.
With the field now spread out over 15 or more km, I am
very much by myself and I feel very small and lonely
compared to the scale of the mountains and alien rock
strewn, glacier-ridden landscape around me (in the
whole race, after the first 13km or so, I did not really see
or meet another competitor until the finish line – and
there are no race course markers so it is often on blind
faith that I navigate and keep going and do not turn off
the course somewhere).
kilometres at 3860m. It is here that I get the biggest
boost over the race, due to the celebrations going on;
there are a lot of visitors camping out including a bunch
of Aussies. As I approach the hill, someone yells, “It’s the
Aussie coming up!” (I have a flag sticking out the small
pack I’m wearing and I’m the only Australian in the race)
Out of the tents, they pour. They stand along the route
and pat my back, cheer and take my photo – heck! I now
think I’m winning – but maybe it is the dehydration, the
30km I have completed so far and the fact I have now
been going non-stop for 5 hours!!!
But the kilometres and the time do pass and in
retrospect, pass quickly. Through the village of
Pangboche I am now below 4000m and the trees are
starting to fill the landscape. I go down another ravine
and cross a bridge and start the first of the really big
climbs up to the Tengboche Monastary (one of the
highest in the world at nearly 3900m). The climb is hard
work and I slow right down as I ascend from the bridge
at 3500m to get to the monastery in the next two
Down the other side losing over 600 m in elevation,
down to the river and then it starts!! This is the big climb,
over the next 3 or 4 km I will gain 800m in elevation to
get from about 3100m, at Phunki Tenga Bridge, to
3900m at the top of Khumjong village. This climb will
take me over 2 hours to do, and at my lowest personal
point in the race. In all ultra races and marathons you do
reach a point where you question your own sanity and
ability to finish – it happened here. So I’m about 2/3 of
the way up and I get overtaken - by a lady carrying her
baby!! As she goes by, she smiles (Nepalese are always
smiling at you) and says how well I’m doing and pats me
on the back….. But all is not lost! I beat her to the top,
because she stopped to feed the baby – worn out racer, 1
lady feeding baby, 0!! Go, me!!! 
If it is possible, this hill gets crueller. I get into Khumjong
and it is not over, some local kids point the way up
around the top of the village so, up I go. The locals stop to
watch me pass up and around this village that spreads
across the valley floor in the shadow of the sacred
mountain called Khumbi Yui Lha. Up to the Kunde
hospital, around the old ice flow, past the Hilary
Foundation High School and the last climb! Up these old
stone stairs, and, while not exactly bouncing, buoyed by
the knowledge that this is the last up and then it is only
about 3km to the finish in an old potato field in Namchee
bazaar.
This is a dangerous decent; it is very steep and very
slippery with dust and rocks and the track is concealed
under small juniper bushes. I lose about 400m in
elevation. In my mind I am telling myself, “Lift your feet,
you are so close to the end now.”
At last I hit the top track in the village that leads to the
end, around the last prayer rock, down the alley between
two buildings, avoid the last yak, into the field and across
the line. After 8 hours, 36 minutes and 59 seconds, I get
my finishers medal and tracksuit and I have completed
the highest marathon in the world…
Hmm, now what is the next extreme race I can do? 
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By DAVID CRINITI
R
unning to plan...B
G
ee I love the finishing chute at the Canberra
Marathon. I’m not sure of the type of trees that line
the NSW Crescent (where the race both starts and
finishes), but their tall grey, overhanging branches and
yellowing autumn leaves frame it well, leaving the last
200m of dead straight, pancake flat road, something to
really savour.
out as one who was beaming particularly brightly in
anticipation of starting her debut marathon. If my spirits
weren’t buoyed by Barbs, they certainly were when the
beautiful Sue Horsburgh gave me a hug to warm me up as
the rain continued to fall in the minutes before the start.
That almost made me think that I wish it would rain
before more of my races! 
…and it was something I wanted to savour twice – once
at the end of the marathon, and again at the completion
of the 50k. The goal was to finish the marathon in
2.26.00, and to come in on the right side of three hours
for the 50k, after missing that mark by a mere 12 seconds
at this race in 2007.
Well, the time soon approached where I just had to join
the pack in the drizzle as we waited for our gun to fire.
Prior to that it was fired for the solitary wheelchair
competitor. We cheered as he left, and then
recommenced shivering for the next couple minutes, but
The goal was put to
paper, in the form of a
laminated wrist-band,
bearing the cumulative
times at which I needed
to pass through each
kilometre in order to
run an even-paced
2.26.00. From there I
had no more pace
guidelines for the last
7.8k. I just planned to
hold on as best as I
could at that stage. The
question just remained,
would the plan go to
plan?
Training had certainly
gone well, including a
32.04 at the March
With not much else going to plan, thankfully, all David’s weight training had finally kicked in
edition of the Striders’
10k series at North Head. That boosted confidence, as I it didn’t take long until we were also on our way down
hadn’t cracked the 33 minute mark in the lead up to last the NSW Crescent.
years’ Canberra Marathon where I’d run my marathon
and 50k pb. Not so encouraging was the fact that I had to I weaved my way through the gentle jostle of the first few
miss the April edition of the 10k series, only one week hundred metres, and gradually moved through the
throng of faster starters as we turned left onto Telopea
out from the marathon, with blister problems.
Park East after a few hundred metres, and then onto
Thankfully, my podiatrist took care of those issues, and I Bowen Drive, a further few hundred metres down the
got down to Canberra on race eve, feeling confident and road.
relaxed…and just hoping that we’d get some good
Bowen Drive marks the start of the first smaller loop,
weather for race day.
which winds its way anti-clockwise around Parliament
So…race day dawned somewhere behind the clouds, and House and for the first 10 or so kilometre of the race.
I woke to the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Such is life When we turn around at the end of this loop, it also
marks the start of the bigger, 15k loop which takes
eh!
runners to the northern side of Lake Burly Griffin – this
Having said that, the rain didn’t dampen the runners’ one to be completed twice.
spirits as they went through their final preparations
outside the Telopea Park School. Barbara Becker stood My first trip up Bowen Drive saw me settle into stride
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BLISTER 105
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with Jeremy Horne for company, and a few others,
including Andrew Tuckey and Anthony Farrugia on our
heels. Mark Tucker and Magnus Michelsson were
running together behind the lead car about 100m up the
road.
In a way, it acted as good motivation, and I surged away
from Jeremy, thinking that if it did force me to stop, I’d
try and stop a few hundred metres ahead, so even if he
passed me while I was getting it out, he’d probably still
be in sight be the time I got going again.
The fact that this distance didn’t change (and if anything,
decreased) as we rounded Parliament House and made
our journey back to Bowen Drive was surprising, as these
were two runners who were well out of the Dave Criniti /
Jeremy Horne marathon league.
However, I wanted to avoid stopping if at all possible,
and I made it past half way in 1.14.34 without doing so.
The padding was starting to become less of a distraction
now, but perhaps I look for distractions, because my
mind was now occupied with a pain in my stomach.
Keeping a close eye on my watch, I also noticed that
Jeremy and I were losing a couple seconds each km on
my planned time. This was the beginning of the end of
plan A.
This was a similar to a problem to one I’d faced at the
same stage of the race last year. In that race I’d held on
until we’d crossed back onto the south side of Lake Burly,
and I found shelter in some trees as we turned off
Commonwealth Avenue, and looped under it. I again took
refuge in the same cluster of trees, and emerged about
half a minute later with Jeremy about 50m in front, but
feeling much stronger.
There was a strong desire to make up those seconds,
which would have seen me catch Mark and Magnus, but I
was already feeling that I was pushing too hard at this
stage of a marathon, and knew that any such attempt
would do my overall time no good. I figured that perhaps
the fact that the road was slippery, or that I was probably
running a couple kilograms heavier due to being
waterlogged from the start, may have contributed to this.
Whatever the reason, I wasn’t going to increase my
tempo at this stage.
I pegged him back along King Edward Terrace and began
to feel more confident of stringing together a good time
now that the padding had worked its way into a
comfortable position, and my stomach issues were
behind me. The crowd on Bowen Drive lifted my spirits
further, and I went into and out of that section on a high.
....Andrew Tuckey now looked like more
of a threat than Jeremy, so I made a mental
note to look out for him...
However, I’d got to half way 34 seconds
down on my projected 2:26:00 split, and I’d
lost a bit more time on that with my pit stop
near the 23k mark. I was making up a couple
seconds here and there, but 2:26:00 looked
like it just wasn’t going to eventuate today.
The sights were still set on a P.B. though, and maintaining
3rd place. As I got onto the Parkes Way, at the 28k mark,
Dave Kane told me that Andrew Tuckey now looked like
more of a threat than Jeremy, so I made a mental note to
look out for him after I turned at the Glenloch
interchange for the final time with about 9 or so km to go.
I was, however, going to keep an eye on our pace each
km, and make sure that I didn’t drop off the mark too far
anyway. If I couldn’t manage 2.26.00, I could hopefully
still top last years’ 2.28.38 marathon effort, and hopefully
still dip under 3.00 for the 50k.
The 10k mark was reached not long before the
turnaround on Bowen Drive which signified the
beginning of the first big loop. From memory, this was
reached in just under 35 minutes, 20 odd seconds down
on my projected 2:26:00 pace.
It’s a while after the race as I write this, but from memory
it was about 40 to 45 seconds after the turn that we
passed each other, meaning I had close to 90 seconds on
him. However, that sort of lead can disappear in a flash in
the dying stages of a marathon, so I kept pushing while
trying to leave something – anything – in the tank with
which to attack the last 7.8k after the marathon was
finished.
By this stage Magnus and Mark were starting to pull
away, and the others had dropped back, but Jeremy and I
continued together as we crossed Lake Burly Griffin, and
started heading north-west along the Parkes Way to the
turnaround at the Glenloch interchange.
By this stage I was passing a few people who were on
their way back towards Bowen Drive to complete their
first lap. There were mutual attempts by myself and
these
runners
to
offer
congratulations
and
encouragement; though I think my attempted “Well
done”s and “Keep it up”s often came out as nothing more
than a garbled grunt.
There are a few undulations close to this turnaround,
which is around 19km into the race on the first big loop. I
think the slipping and sliding of my foot within my shoe
as I descended some of these, contributed to the padding
on my sole working its way loose. The rain had now
eased, but I was now wondering whether I’d have to stop
to get rid of this padding which was no longer in place,
but was now floating around in my sock, uncomfortably.
Somewhere along this stretch I saw Magnus too, which
was surprising, given that when he was heading back
from the Glenloch interchange alongside Mark Tucker,
well before I got there, he was looking comfortable.
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Anyway, he was walking, injured, but still offered
encouragement as I moved into second, despite the
disappointment of his race finishing early.
Mark was way in front, out of sight and out of mind, and I
just concentrated on doing what I could to get under
3:00:00 as I headed across Bowen Drive and onto the
bike path that led out to the final turnaround point of the
day. Mark passed me a couple long minutes before I
reached that, and thankfully, I didn’t pass anyone for
several minutes after I made my own turnaround.
As I crossed the bridge for the last time, and headed onto
King Edward Terrace for the last time, there were more
and more first lap runners around, and more spectators
now that the finish was approaching and the rain had
subsided. The atmosphere was building and I was
pumping my first and thanking the big Striders and
Coolrunning cheer squads as I headed off Bowen Drive
onto Telopea Park West.
Knowing I was going sub 3 - and knowing there was no
one threatening to take second from me - made the last
couple of kilometres more relaxing and enjoyable as I
somehow managed to find the energy for another round
of celebrations as I continued down NSW Crescent for the
final time, finishing in 2:58:21.
Soon I was rounding the corner onto NSW Crescent, with
the finish line in sight. Fist pumping, yahooing, and high
fiving were the order of the day, and I jubilantly made my
way up the finishing straight to a P.B. time of 2.27.34.
The wrap up? Well, I honestly think that my preparations
were so much better in ’08 than ’07 that I should have
come away with more than a one minute and four second
P.B. in the marathon. However, what should happen and
what does happen are often worlds apart. I strongly
believe that if I’d stuck to the A plan, and gone through
half way in 1:13:00 flat, I would not have come away with
a P.B. at all. Perhaps there’s a lesson in there about
listening to your body…on the other hand, maybe I’m just
too soft?
It was indecision about whether to continue for the 50k
that cost me the sub 3 hour time I should have got last
year, so I made amends this year by pushing straight
through without stopping, continuing around NSW
Crescent until it emerged onto Telopea Park West a few
hundred metres later. Running the opposite way to the
marathoners who were completing their last kilometre, I
passed Jeremy, who didn’t have one of his better days
that day, finishing 4th in 2:32:35.
By DENNIS WYLIE
the
T
oughest age group
If you are male and in your late 40’s, don’t have any more
birthdays. If you do, you’ll end up being in Striders’
toughest age group, 50 plus.
numbers for his races, 900 plus. I’m reliably told that this
equates to international status and 800 plus relates to
national status. Keith is definitely World Class. Unless
anyone can prove otherwise, he is currently Australia’s
top 50 year old over all distances, from 800m to the
marathon. To put this into perspective, Glenn Guzzo has
mainly high 800’s in AGA with a rare 900 now and then.
Other top Striders such as David Criniti don’t have a 900
to their name as yet.
Recently, I ran the Woodford to Glenbrook (25k in the
bush) and, in spite of a pretty good time: 1hr 40 mins, I
was 4th in my age group - despite a 17th overall! That’s
four 50 year olds, 1 to 17! There were 3 Striders in that 4.
The outsider was Trevor Jacobs, World Masters
Mountain Running Champion (he was 3rd and 15th
overall). First in this group was our best performed
“weight for age athlete”, Keith Bateman (5 th overall) and
second, Stephen Jackson with a sizzling 1hr 36 minutes
for 9th overall.
Tony Fattorini got 923 points when he broke the Six Foot
Track record last year, so that’s the kind of thing it takes
to get over 900, yet, Keith does it over and over again. So
how about the next highest level, the 800 plus pointers?
Keith is a running “Giant”, He’s a National record holder
for 3000m. Being a record holder means that you didn’t
just beat the people in this or that race: it means you beat
all comers over all time! He is currently ranked no 1 in
the World for 1500m. Having broken his own records
several times, he has 4 Australian records
Guess what? There’s not a lot of them (about 20 in the
whole club) and those who have done it this year are well
represented in 50 plus! There’s Chris Dwyer, Frank
Zeichner, Ron Schwebel, Stephen Jackson and me: six out
of twenty two, to be precise! That’s almost one third!
Why so? Partially, it’s because the people who are now
over 50 correspond to a time in history when running
was at its apex: the 1980’s. They were good then, enjoyed
If you look at the “age and gender adjusted” (AGA) results
on our website, you’ll see that Keith has some very high
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it and either stuck around or came back for more. Also, at
the age of 50, a lot of people are no longer committed to,
or responsible for, dependant family. They can now
involve themselves in sports or hobbies to a greater
degree. Then there’s competition. Nothing drives effort
quite like it. As Ron pointed out recently, the sort of time
you run in the City to Surf these days might place you say,
200th. That same time 20 years ago would place you
400th. It shows that the harder the competition, the
better the results.
We oldsters know how hard we have to work. We have to
work that way to stay in the game. To be blunt, you
youngsters simply aren’t pulling your weight!
By INGRID GRACE
P
aris Marathon
I was looking up race results on the
internet. So was everyone else. They
wouldn’t download. I started
wasting time browsing running sites
and saw a promotion for the Paris
Marathon down one of the sidebars.
”I’d like to do that, that would be
exotic. Other runners do marathons at
various destinations around the
globe, I wonder how they organise
it?”, I thought to myself.
running, library and information, a
touch of music, to drawing. I have
stopped messing around. So far the
funds raised stand at $4,504.00.
I am running toward my easel. An
exhibition/auction, ‘Room For Life’, a
collection of life drawings, is my
major fund raising event to be held
on the 7th August 2008, at 7 pm in
the Waverley Library Foyer. There
will be champagne, food, music and
twenty drawings going under the
hammer. Proceeds will be donated
to the Heart Foundation.
Reading further, I discovered that the
promotion was to raise funds for the
Heart Foundation. ”How much do I
need to raise? $12,500.00. Mmm.that’s
a lot.” Then I started thinking about
how many people have assisted me,
requiring nothing in return other
than for me to assist in turn when
needed. Take Sydney Striders for instance. The best thing
I ever did was to join up. On that first approach, walking
up the hill to the rotunda on Observatory Hill, I was a bit
bothered by the idea of all those very good fast runners
finding me wanting, but I needn’t have been. I got an nononsense, happy welcome, asked my 10km time, handed
a map, given the low-down on the run about to happen
and instructed to leave my keys in the ice cream bucket
so that someone would know if I hadn’t made it back
home and needed to be found somewhere on the streets
of Sydney.
If there are sponsors out there, I
need to find them. Or they can find
me
at
[email protected] . Or a donation can be
made via my Heart Foundation home page at
www.everydayhero.com.au/Ingrid_Grace
I hope to see you at the auction. It would be fabulous to
have a bunch of Striders to swell the numbers and maybe
even boost the bidding. See you running,
Hatches, Matches, Dispatches
On that first run, I could never have imagined that I
would be doing what I am doing right now. I wanted to
run a marathon, but a marathon in Paris and raising
funds for the Heart Foundation? I must have flipped out.
It must be on account of the running. I must keep my
brain in my feet. That must be how it got straightened
out and put to good use.
Kate White (nee Topp) and husband Tom have been
joined in Scotland by Huon Patrick, born weighing
4.04kg,on 9 June,
measuring 54cm and kicking
vigorously!
“We have a bun in the oven, due date 19 September
(...date of Sydney Marathon)”, says Nick Brewster,
presciently. By forecasting now and announcing it again
after the event, he cunningly gets to say it twice in
preparation for his new job in the Iemma government.
Yes, he is retiring from his old job as the Pink Wiggle!
The Heart Foundation reckons that the average person
can raise $12,500. I’m average, but that’s a lot of
funds. However, I’ve taken up the challenge and decided
to bring all the different aspects of my life together - from
8
BLISTER 105
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T
hanks to the
18km, Field’s Hill
AURA points
at
25-27km,
competition
Botha’s Hill at 38in 2007 I was
40km, Inchanga at
subsidized
to
45-47km and Polly
travel to South
Shortts at 77Africa for what is
79km.
Polly
undeniably
the
Shortts is infamous
largest (and many
as the hill that
would
say
makes Comrades
greatest)
ultrawinners
and
marathon in the
breaks so many
world. It certainly
other
Comrades
is an experience
runners.
The
that you can get
runner
who
nowhere else in
reaches the top of
the world of ultraPolly Shortts first
running. Starting
has won every ‘up’
with a handful of
run ever despite it
runners in 1921 to
being 8km from
commemorate the
the finish.
We
death of South
stopped again at
Ignoring Bruce Fordyce’s advice about baggy shorts, Tim had barely made it to
African soldiers in
the
Ethembeni
the finish and due to the money he found en route and carried in his side pocket
World War One, it
School
for
over such a long distance, had developed a slight lean to one side.
grew to a race with
orphaned children
thousands
of
and they sang and
competitors. It has
danced for us and
declined slightly in
donations raised a
recent years but
significant amount
still
had
over
of money for the
11,000
entrants
school.
After a
By TIM COCHRANE
this year. The race
morning tea and a
alternates in direction ‘up’ from Durban on the coast to visit to the Comrades Museum, we returned to Durban. I
the inland city of Pietermaritzburg in even years and was still confident that despite the hills I could run a
‘down’ from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in odd years. good time and thankful that it was an up run, as running
2008 was an ‘up’ year. The distance has varied slightly down those hills is not all that enticing.
over the years as minor course changes have occurred
but it’s generally 86-91km. 2008 was 87km.
Race day was predicted to be fine and warm with a cool
start of about 13oC and a maximum of 27oC but it actually
I arrived in South Africa seven days prior to the race and reached 31oC. The start was lit with huge flood lights set
stayed in Johannesburg for 3 days before moving on to up for the local TV coverage. SABC covers the event non
Durban where the race was to start. On Thursday the stop from the start until after the final cut-off gun at the
race expo began. After registration one could immerse 12hr mark and thousands around the country watch this
oneself in a huge variety of sporting and other products and thousands of locals line the route. This race is a
at a huge variety of stands. The Victorian Road Runners South African institution and only 518 of the competitors
group with whom I was spending a lot of time went on a were not South African. At the start, excerpts of the
spending spree, buying almost every possible piece of national anthems of many of the overseas athletes were
merchandise. On Friday the organizers arranged a bus played, followed by the South African national anthem
tour of the route for all first time entrants. We set off (which very few of the South Africans sung) and then the
early and soon it became apparent why it is called the unofficial anthem ‘Shosholoza’ (made famous at the 1995
‘up’ run, as the first 38 odd km was almost relentlessly rugby world cup), which all the South Africans sung at
uphill. There wasn’t anything steep, but a continuous the top of their voices. It was 5:30am at the start and still
gradual climb with only brief periods of respite. At dark. I started cautiously due to the crowd and darkness
halfway the bus stopped at the wall of honour, a brick as only dim street lights lit the early part of the route. I
retaining wall on the side of the road lined with plaques did not want to fall. I had drunk too much pre race and
which previous runners had purchased to celebrate their soon needed a pit-stop and lost thousands of positions in
achievement. After halfway it became flatter and mildly the process but as the hills kicked in I made steady
undulating but there were still some significant hills, progress through the field. At the top of Cowie’s Hill I’d
including two of the big five. Traditionally, Comrades is progressed though to 306th place, although I had no idea
said to have five major hills- Cowie’s Hill at approx 16where in the field I was at the time. Aid stations were
Comrades
M
9
arathon 2008
BLISTER 105
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fantastic, with water and Energade in sachets and food at
later stations, although I would have liked food a little
earlier. At half way I’d moved through to 168th in 3:05
but on Inchanga hill a group of about 15 runners passed,
including the female leaders. Despite this, I still picked
up places and was 136th at Cato ridge with 30km to go.
Just after this time-point I passed Magnus, who was
struggling after a fast start and cursing himself as an
idiot.
this section at approx 4min/km pace and passed many
runners, none of whom even tried to speed up and come
with me. It felt good and made me run even faster.
Magnus too was again running well, not quite as well as
me, but good enough to finish 48seconds ahead. In the
end I finished in 6:44:34 and 91st place. Not quite what
I’d hoped for but none the less a satisfactory result.
There were 8613 finishers within the twelve hour cutoff,
which is strictly enforced. However, only around 3500
had finished by 10hrs and close to 2000 finished in the
final half hour. The final hour was inspiring, as a
continuous stream of runners moved toward the finish
and those who did not make it were very disappointed.
The crowd support for those who were struggling was
very encouraging. One man took several minutes to do
the last 50metres with cramps and the crowd watching
on the sidelines or the big screen let out a large cheer
when he finally made it.
Things started to fall apart at about 25km to go. The
terrain was relatively flat but I was struggling to find
energy to run. I ate and drank as much as I could and
sprayed myself with water from the sachets. It was
warm but there was a cool breeze and it didn’t seem all
that unpleasant. Magnus passed me on the approach to
the highest point of the course and moved ahead. After 7
or 8km in the doldrums things started to improve on the
descent prior to Little Polly’s (a small hill just before
Polly Shortts) and I picked up the pace and managed to
run Little Polly’s and up almost all of Polly Shortts, taking
only two short walks to conserve myself for the run
through to the finish. From here it was 8km to go and it
was mostly downhill or flat and I was feeling good. I ran
There were approx 70 Aussies in the field. It was a great
experience and certainly a race to be recommended to
any runner with a realistic expectation to be able to
finish in 12hrs.
BOOK REVIEW
Peter Snell: From Olympian to Scientist
Penguin ISBN 978-0-14-302086-8
Co-written by Peter Snell and Garth Gilmour, this book
details, in a straight forward manner, the life of, but mainly
the running life of a New Zealander who was World famous
in the 1960’s and probably only overshadowed by Sir
Edmund Hilary as the country’s most famous individual.
competition 30 metres behind! He reveals that, without
competition, he had no explosive finish. It makes you
wonder what he might have done if he was more
aggressive.
Snell and Lydiard did not get on but they were able to tour
and conduct business together. Lydiard thought Snell was a
lazy runner who wouldn’t do all he was told when left to his
own devices but the thing that really offended him was a
perception that Snell thought he knew more than Lydiard
because of a statement he once made to the press. Today,
Lydiard’s coaching methods are adopted throughout the
World following his amazing success with local runners. At
the time of Snell, New Zealand had a number of other
leading World class runners including Marathoner Barry
MacGee and Three miler, Murray Halberg – all trained by
Lydiard.
This was in an era when Sportsmen were modest (unless
they were American); an era that came to an end in the
1980’s. Snell gave the appearance of being an almost shy
man. I can report with less shyness, since we are now past
the 1980’s, that he once, probably, witnessed me run. I’ll
never know for sure but my father pointed him out to me
when we wandered through the crowd prior to my running
a mile in Wanganui in about 1966 at the age of about 14.
Those were the days when Athletics attracted huge crowds.
During the 1960’s, bettering the latest sub-four minute mile
time had more importance than the efforts of runners of
any other distance. Today it is all about the 100 metres (or
the marathon, perhaps) Peter Snell came to eminence
closely following Herb Elliott’s career. He started as a Half
Miler and won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Four years later
in Rome, he won the 800 and 1500 metres.
Rather than being the Saint I imagined him as, strangely,
Snell was employed by a tobacco company and smoked a
pipe! He also involved himself with South African sport
when there was an emerging attitude that South Africa
should be boycotted to encourage the then Apartheid
government to adopt democracy, ie: allow the majority
black population to vote. But those were different times. He
reveals that he used the tactic of “boxing in” other runners
and says it wasn’t a very nice thing to do. He also suffered
The most outstanding thing about Snell was his amazing
th
sprint finish. He would usually spring from 4 position with
150 metres to go and in that brief distance, put his
10
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
this tactic applied by others, himself. “Boxing in” means you
stay on the shoulder of another runner who is behind
someone else so the only way they can overtake is by
dropping back first. They may have to drop back behind any
number of runners and may not be able to at all if there are
others behind them. Often, in this situation tripping and
spiking occur when someone tries to break free. If they do
drop back, you take off, leaving them behind before they
can pick up speed but usually they don’t even try, hoping
for a break to open when one of the other runners makes a
move. After all, everyone is pretty stretched in the closing
stages of a race. Snell coped when it happened to him,
though. He’d get fired up and by the tactic, drop back, go
around and still have the goods to beat everyone.
After athletics, Snell took up study in human performance
and researches it today in an American University and is
currently the “over sixty” American Orienteering Champion.
The back half of the book is taken up with this.
Although I said Snell wasn’t a Saint, he certainly wasn’t a
Demon either. That’s where the book suffers. There isn’t a
great insight into private thoughts. He is portrayed as a one
dimensionally excellent human being. To be more
interesting he should have got pissed, been into a few
fights, been wounded in a gun battle, been chased by Police
or, at least, refused a breath test.
Dennis Wylie
By STEEL BEVERIDGE
Bananacoast
U
ltramarathon
GRAFTON TO COFFS HARBOUR 2008
K
elvin Marshall became the only man to post four was her first attempt at a distance longer than 45
wins in the history of the event with his victory in kilometres and, secondly, she was the youngest in the
this year’s edition of the
Bananacoast field of six that set out from Grafton Post office at
Ultramarathon . He covered the 83 kilometres in 7hours 6.00a.m. She began with the intent of keeping as close to
14 minutes and nine seconds to add 2008 to his wins in seven minute kilometers as she could and her finish time
1996, 1998 and 1999. Arguably Australia’s most prolific of 10.12.50 showed that she dropped very little time in
Ultramarathoner this event marked his 199th the later stages. She becomes only the sixth female to
Ultramarathon. He intends to post number 200 next complete the full Bananacoast event.
week with a ‘little’ 50 kilometres in the Glasshouse
Mountains. The week before his run down the back road Second spot across the finish at the Coffs Harbour Hotel
from Grafton to Coffs Harbour Marshall had competed in went to Glenn Lockwood, whose time of 8.17.18
another 80kms event in Victoria.
represented a massive personal best of one hour and 26
All of the above could also be said to be something of a minutes. Third placed Robert Boyce, although an
‘warm-up’ for the next couple of months when he will experienced Ultra runner, was having his first attempt at
run
an
1,100
the Grafton-Coffs run.
Possessed of the strength to casually bend street sign poles without
kilometre stage race
He
was
a
bit
trying, he is regarded as a public nuisance by many Queensland Councils.
in France and a
disappointed with his
100mile race across
time of 8.44.55 but
Death Valley in the
the time on his legs
U.S.A.
should stand him in
good
stead for
Marshall was not
another tilt at the
alone
in
making
famous
Comrades
history in this year’s
event in South Africa.
Bananacoast event as
The final male finisher
Meredith Quinlan rewas Bruce Webber,
established a female
another first-timer on
presence in the race
the
course,
who
after an eight year
finished his journey in
hiatus. She came to
9.54.36. It is worth
the run from a totally
noting that the times
different perspective
posted by all the men
to all the men
could have won the
running,
especially
race on some other
Marshall. Firstly it
occasions.
11
BLISTER 105
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months I’ve taken up kayaking with
When did you take up running?
Interview by ANDREW SMITH
In 1989 at age 64 when I joined the Sydney
Jim Screen and Manfred. It doesn’t tire
Striders. I’d been playing a bit of tennis
me as much as running.
and had a heart condition. My doctor told
Any plans to stop running?
Ron served with the RAAF
me not to do exercise that was too violent
This might be my last SMH Half. I’ve
or explosive. My son Philip was running
been oldest finisher for the last 5 years.
in WW2 and then ran his
with the Striders and I asked him if there
I struggled a bit last year (had a bit of
were any slow runners there. My first run
chest cold) and I don’t like to run and
own plumbing business for
was from Shelley Beach with Wendy
disappoint myself.
Downes, Ian Whitfield and a few others. I
What keeps you going? Do you get
45 years. He has three
went alright until we got to the hills. I
any running injuries?
found I would have to learn to run hills.
I’m just happy and lucky to be still
sons, two daughters and
going. I’ve had osteo-arthritis in both
When was your first Marathon?
five grandchildren. Ron
Within 12 months of joining the Striders I
hips for 15 years but it doesn’t seem to
ran the Anzac Marathon in 3:28:46 in 1990
have got any worse. I don’t really get
hosted the Western
at age 65. There was no O-60s category in
injuries – just a few niggles that come
Striders, I think I was the only one. (Ron
and go. I’m weak on hills now – hill
Wanderer STaR for
won the Striders Fastest Debut Marathon
training doesn’t make me better any
Award that year).
more – just tired.
12 years.
How many Marathons have you run?
Have you a favourite race?
Only three – I also ran Canberra at age 70
I used to like the ‘Twosomes’ in
(3:38:50, 2nd O-70) and the Olympic Host
Centennial Park and Parramatta. Lesley
City at age 75 (3:55:50). I’d
Maher and I won the
had a quadruple bypass 20
‘Combined Age 100 yrs +’
months before Host City and
category a few times.
came 2nd in the 75+ AgeWhich race are you most
Group.
Training
for
proud of?
marathons knocked me about a
My second SMH Half in
bit and I needed my rest days. The most I ran was 65-67km a 94:50 at age 68 was pretty good and another I was happy
week or I got too tired. I ran a lot of Halfs in my first few with was 103 mins for the Half at 73. And my 42:49 in the
years of running. I ran Six Foot Track in 1993 (6:23:57) but Striders 10K at Centennial Park aged 66. My son, Philip,
was frightened of falling over. I stood aside at the won the Striders O-40s Half Championship the same year as
escarpment after the start to let everyone go past. Kevin one of my O-60s wins. Philip did well (76 mins) he had to
O’Kane saw me and said he’d never seen anybody pull out beat runners like Warwick Selby to win. The most satisfying
after 1km. I went down the escarpment last but overtook was breaking 4 hours in the Host City Marathon.
people after that. I didn’t go too well because of a problem PBs: Marathon 3:28:46 1990 age 65, Half 94:50 1993 age
in my sciatic nerve which switched to the other leg by the 68, City to Surf 64:16 1992 age 67, 10K 42:49 1991 age 66,
time I got to the river but I was alright after the Pluviometer.
Six Foot 6:23:57 1996 age 68. In 2005 a new Striders age
category of Legends (O-80s) had to be set up to
How much training do you do now?
40-50 km a week, I run 4 or 5 days a week. My wife and I accommodate Ron. In 2006, Ron set the Legend 10K record
live at the Landings Retirement Village near Bobbin Head for the Striders at 53:37.
tollgate and I run Bobbin Head with Kevin O’Kane and Awards: Ron won Striders Seniors (O-60) awards in 1995
Manfred Fiedler on Tuesdays. I used to run with Woodstock for both Marathon and Half (1:42:22), Seniors Marathon
a bit as well. Striders Lesley Maher and Lorraine Spanton award in 2000, Super Seniors (O-70) Half in 2003 (1:59:03),
also run with Woodstock.
Legends (O-80) Half award in 2005 (2:01:39), 2006
(2:03:39, 3rd O-70), 2007 (2:14:00, 3rd O-70). Ron has
Did/do you do any other sports?
I played basketball when I was young and quick. In the last 3 completed 30 Half marathons and 14 City-to-Surfs.
Personal Profile – Ron Daly
World first has implications for us all...
Excellent news: A monkey has been cloned! The
implications for humanity are immense!! Once the
technology is applied to humans, no longer will we have
to learn lots of names, or remember faces. They will all be
the same. Shoe stores won’t have sales on shoes that are
not our size; one size would fit all. The President of
America will declare no more wars against ‘Rogue States’
because we’d all be on the same side. One could easily
impersonate the PM or Queen and get right royal
treatment. It will cause some problems, however. All
runners will finish their 10k races at the same time and
that will stuff up our timing system as we all surge
through the finish at once. No point reading a book
because we would have written it and already know it’s
contents. We won’t go to a movie because we like the
actor. There’ll only be one actor, and it’ll be us! At least
there’ll be no trouble getting an autograph!
Ed
12
BLISTER 105
By HEIKO SCHAEFER
MAY - AUGUST 2008
100 T H BOSTON MARATHON WITH THE HAMILLS (The Sequel)
Nightmare on
B
Preamble
This is a tale of two legends. One is Sydney Strider Alf
Field (AF) and the other is an American by the name of
Buddy Beinloser (BB).
oylston Street
only did AF beat a select field of elite runners that day,
but his report of the race still heads the field in the art of
race reporting by a large margin.
Honestly, who of the current generation of Striders
knows that a fellow Strider has won the Boston
Marathon? No, not in a wheelchair and not as age
category winner either….. but outright!!!!
To read AF’s report for its own sake will serve as a
shining example to young players of how race
experiences can be vividly brought to life to capture the
drama of a race in general as well as how to relate the
bigger picture to the runner-cum-writer’s own feelings
and emotions before, during and after the race. Simply
brilliant!
So you think I may be pulling your leg? No Siree, it’s all
documented in the annals of the club’s history aka the
Blister archives.
To fully appreciate or even just comprehend what I’m
about to tell, I strongly urge you to read AF’s report
before continuing any further. I must admit that without
having read AF’s work first, I would have difficulties in
understanding the following myself.
The occasion of this unique achievement by a Strider was
the 100th running of the Boston marathon, the world’s
oldest. There were a number of Striders present on that
auspicious third Monday of April when every year
Massachusetts celebrates Patriots Day and the Boston
Red Sox traditionally schedule their Major League game
for that public holiday day to be played in the morning so
fans can watch the finish of the Marathon after seeing
their team in action at Fenway Park.
Be warned, it is not a pretty story but a seminal one
nevertheless. It illustrates brilliantly the hard won
reputation of Striders as masters of skulduggery and
flimflammery or, as a last resort, just plain old-fashioned
subterfuge in the face of the toughest of personal
challenges.
The hero of that day is none other than our own AF. Not
For your information, AF’s report is archived here:
http://www.sydneystriders.org.au/blister/blister61b.shtml
While you are still digesting this rich lashing of Strider lore, you might well ask who are the eponymous Hamills, and
where are they now? I have no idea to be honest. Not that it matters all that much. Despite featuring in the report title,
they were, after all, only bit players in the drama; although Brenda Hamill may have been something of a femme fatale
in the tragi-comic chain of events that ensued following AF’s arrival in the States. Other Striders names are mentioned
by AF as having participated in 100th running of the Boston, but they seem to have disappeared from the running
scene or else are keeping a low profile. Who can blame them? I hear Bryce Courtenay still gets a mention in literary
circles but sadly, AF himself now seems to be only a shadow of the man seen in full flight on that fateful Patriots Day,
1996 in Boston Massachusetts. In this case it may well be true, as is claimed by some, that runners have only one
really outstanding marathon in them.
was soon to be reassured completely about AF’s
integrity.
Back to the Future
I must admit that prior to reading AF’s race report, the
thought of running Boston had not entered my mind. But,
by accidentally coming across AF’s story in the archives
of the Striders website shortly after I joined the club in
2000, I felt curiously compelled to run in AF’s larger than
life footsteps on this most famous of marathon courses.
Not that I believed every single word in AF’s report. But I
The story of Buddy Beinloser
No sooner had I and my support crew of one arrived in
Boston for the running of the 107th Boston Marathon
(2003), than we made contact with our sister club, the
Heartbreak Hill Striders (HHS). Having played a part in
establishing that relationship, yours truly was also the
13
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
first Sydney Strider to experience the wonderful
hospitality of HHS. That night, I sat next to the club’s
legendary coach, Jim Carroll (JC) at the club’s pre-race
pasta dinner. JC has run so many Boston marathons that
anything he doesn’t know about the race is not worth
knowing. To break the ice, I somewhat nervously began
to tell him about AF’s exploits in the centenary year of
1996. JC immediately pricked up his ears and pointed out
that there was indeed a potentially damaging scandal
involving a double amputee in 1996. There were
rumours that he had tried to scam a number of
unsuspecting foreign entrants and then trading on his
disability tried to extract money by threatening legal
action against them. JC was pretty sure that an Aussie
runner named Alf Field or somebody with a similar name
was among the alleged victims. Apparently only those
affected and the race organizers ever knew about the
You could have knocked me down with the proverbial
feather and inwardly I had to give credit to AF for artfully
weaving together spectacular facts with what seemed to
be just the odd bit of fiction in his report.
That night, I lay awake for what seemed an interminable
length of time, probably due to the combination of too
much pasta in my tummy and the AF and BB stories
swirling around in my mind like alphabet soup. No
matter how hard I tried, I could not fall asleep. My
fevered mind was panicking that pre-race nerves had got
to me and that I would not get any sleep at all that night.
That made me feel even more panicky. Thankfully, I fell
asleep around 2 o’clock in the morning. But with an early
wake-up call to catch transport to the out-of-town start,
it was not the ideal conclusion to a preparation that I was
hoping would lead to the marathon experience of my life.
RACE DAY
Pre-race
I woke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to a sunny
Boston spring morning. I was astonished to feel
so refreshed after no more than 3 hours of sleep.
Minibuses and cars laid on by HHS took us from
a central rendezvous to the ‘clubhouse’, a HHS
member’s residence a couple of miles from the
race start in Hopkinton (see picture).
Here we roughed in comfort and watched on TV
the thousands of peons who had been bussed
from Boston early in the morning to the open-air
“athletes village”, where they were now frying
under what had become, by now, a quite fierce
sun.
affair. The whole unsavoury thing was hushed up, the
guy given an indefinite ban (not unlike the Swans’ Barry
Hall) by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) and not
much more has been heard of him since.
When the time came, we answered last minute calls of
nature to avoid the partaloos at the ‘athletes village’.
Then we hopped into our buses and cars again, drove up
to the race barricades and sauntered the last few meters
to our respective starting corrals. It was now about 20
minutes to the start.
The guy’s name was Buddy Beinloser (BB) and he was
indeed a double leg amputee; the missing arms being,
perhaps, AF adding that extra bit of colour to an already
colourful character.
Around me, several conversations were going on. One
group were discussing a bombshell announcement made
earlier about a double amputee with artificial intelligence
prostheses being in the race. He was going to start just a
couple of corrals behind us. This was too much of a
coincidence. I butted in on the conversation and
introduced myself. I told the group that a Sydney Strider
friend of mine had run the Boston in 1996 and that he
had met a double amputee at the time. I didn’t think it
opportune to mention the fact that my fellow Strider had
also taken out the race that year by not entirely legal
means.
Apparently BB was a professor of cybernetics at MIT. He
was also quite a good distance runner in his day. As the
result of a car accident he had received a significant
compensation payout for the loss of his two legs below
the knees. This payout had enabled him to develop his
own prototype pair of high-tech, high-performance,
carbo-fibre running prostheses. These had electronic
sensors taped to his body, which automatically
monitored his heart rate and his own natural muscle
output and then fed the information back into his
prostheses, which kinaesthetically adjusted their output
to move in the most efficient harmony with the rest of his
body. When the sensors detected tiring of his natural
muscles, electrical impulses would be sent to those
muscles to stimulate more blood flow and maintain
effort.
Just then the announcer went through the list of the
invited elite runners. Every name was greeted with a big
cheer. At the end of that long list of illustrious names the
crowd became restless and some started to chant ‘We
want Bud ….. we want Bud’.
14
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
The announcer quickly caved in to the popular demand
and asked if Bud would be so kind to say a few quick
words to his many fans. Bud didn’t have to be asked
twice. With, literally, a spring in his step he quickly made
his way to the stage and, ignoring the steps, with the
greatest of ease jumped up about 5 feet and straight on to
the podium. I was dumbfounded.
from the rest of the generic screaming. And then there
were the signs and T-shirts with the slogan reading ‘I
think I can … I think I can’, but instead of a little red
engine there was a figure, with double prostheses just
like BB’s, running up the hill. There could be only one
explanation for this. While I was running too fast
downhill towards Wellesley, BB was too far behind for
me to notice any cheering for him coming from the
crowd. But now that the course had levelled out and I
was slowing down, BB was speeding up and I could hear
the crowd enthusiastically anticipating his imminent
appearance.
He looked decidedly wild-eyed as he cast his eyes
backwards and forwards across the crowd. He wasted no
time in declaring that he was finally back following the
horrific injury he had suffered here in 1996 (That punch
must have been much more of a blow than AF was
prepared to admit, or else, the Boston Athletics
Association’s ban had lasted longer than Bud had
bargained for). BB crowed that he was back with a
vengeance, plus a major sponsor which had allowed him
to stump up for a new improved version of his original
racing pins. In a quite insincere tone of voice, he
expressed the wish to catch up with old acquaintances,
particularly anybody from Australia. He said it would
give him great pleasure to race and beat (said with a
nasty smirk) anybody from that Sydney runners club he
had enjoyed meeting here in 1996. While saying this, he
stared straight at me and for much longer than I thought
was accidental. Even though it was noon by now and the
sun quite hot, a chill ran down my spine. I was
determined to take no chances and to run the race of my
life in order to keep well ahead of BB. At last, BB raised
his two arms in a victory salute and sprang from the
podium. He gave me another piercing look as he walked
close by me on the way back to his corral. The
band played Yankee Doodle Dandy one more
time, the US Air Force made their last fly-past
and then the gun went. We were off.
The race itself
The first half of the race is a long, gradual
downhill to Newton Lower Falls. I was fairly
flying down the road with the five-deep crowd
being just a blur in the corner of my eye.
Framington and Natick passed in no time flat. I
felt good and was well ahead of my projected
PB time. But alas, the fast downhill inevitably
took its toll later when it mattered most.
I told myself to keep calm. Don’t panic. You have trained
well for this. I even tried to utilise the slogan I saw at
Wellesley by adapting it to my own advantage. ‘I know I
can…., I know I can’ I kept repeating this over and over as
my legs carried me onwards to the series of uphills
known as the Newton Hills. Amongst them is the original
Heartbreak Hill the longest and most famous of them.
The term was coined by the Boston Globe sports writer
Jerry Nason after the 1936 race when the then leading
runner, local hero and incumbent champion Johnny
Kelley, was decisively overtaken by the eventual winner
in Ellison ‘Tarzan’ Brown at this very same hill. Of course,
that is another story altogether.
Approaching the hill, I am thrilled to see the smiling faces
of my new friends from HHS (see picture) who
traditionally volunteer to man the aid station at the foot
of Heartbreak Hill.
“It was her”. “No, it was him”. “No, it was him”. “No, her”. “Him, her...”
her.
Just before the half-way mark came Wellesley (Womens)
College and the famous ‘tunnel of screams’, a tradition as
old as the Boston Marathon itself. All able-bodied college
girls down to the last freshwoman line the road and
scream their lungs out at the runners, creating an
unbelievable volume of high pitched noise. Alberto
Salazar has described it as being physically painful while
other lesser runners have admitted to turning around to
experience the ‘ordeal’ again. I saw many runners
holding up mobile phones to record the sight and sound
of this amazing scene.
To demonstrate the close relationship between our two
clubs, they snuck me an extra chocolate Power Bar gel
(one with caffeine) to help me get to the top of ‘their’ hill!
Reaching the top, near Boston College, I had bottles of
beer thrust at me by the lads. I grimaced and took a few
swigs to show my appreciation of their unselfish support.
It wasn’t Red Bull for sure, but it still seemed to give me
wings for a little while at least.
It was now just another 4 miles or so of what would
normally be easy running into downtown Boston and the
long finishing straight in Boylston Street. Would I be able
to make it before BB caught me? I was desperately trying
to judge how close BB was behind me from the noise
level of the cheers for him generated by the crowd. He
And it was here at Wellesley that I became aware of it for
the first time. Even though the tunnel of screams was just
an incredible cacophony of noise, there was persistent
and rhythmic chanting which could be distinguished
15
BLISTER 105
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seemed to be getting closer, slowly but surely. I was
briefly struck by the idea of discarding my Striders
singlet. No use, he had looked me straight in the face at
the start and had probably memorised my face.
Furthermore, it would have been shameful to be exposed
for a coward and bring the club colours into disrepute.
There was nothing for it but to get to the finish before
him and then quickly melt away into the crowd.
Then shock, horror and finally disaster. Suddenly there is
a peculiar sounding footfall right behind me, heavy
breathing, a heavy hand on my shoulder and a rasping
voice in my ear spitting out ‘G’day Strider, make my day’.
In panic I try to wrench myself loose from the vicelike
grip, I begin to stumble and lose my balance completely. I
desperately try to grab hold of the woman runner in
front to steady myself. In vain, as I fall I hear the tearing
of material in my hand. I black out as my head hits the
pavement.
I tried to turn and look behind me, but I was still
handicapped by a recent injury. I had badly damaged my
right rotator cuff in a fall. It was still extremely painful to
turn around sufficiently while running to get a good look
to see who was behind me. Close to exhaustion, my
severely befuddled brain now spawned a strategy
involving running in a zigzag fashion along the road. This
allowed me to have a partial look behind me but also
earned me angry remarks from fellow runners like ‘Darn
Aussie’ and “Watch where you are going, buddy’. The
irony of being called ‘buddy’ wasn’t lost on me entirely,
but it only dawned on me after the race that the joke was
on me when I realised that by zigzagging along the
course I was covering a longer distance and thus playing
right into BB’s hands. Unlike me, he had obviously run
‘the line’.
I don’t know how long I have been with the fairies. When
I come to and open my eyes it’s pitch-black where there
was bright sunshine and an eerie silence where before
there was incredible noise.
I’m bathed in cold sweat and somebody has covered me
with a blanket. Oh my God, I’ve lost both my sight and my
hearing. I start yelling (thank goodness I still have my
voice). With my arms flailing wildly I try to get to my feet.
I hit something soft next to me, and then I hear the voice
(thank goodness, my hearing has returned). But the voice
sounds quite angry.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy? Stop hitting me at
once?”
The voice sounds familiar, too familiar. It’s familiar
because it belongs to my partner Gerri (short for
Geraldine in case anyone is wondering). Suddenly, a light
goes on (thank God, I’m not blind, either).
While this was going on, we had gone through Brookline,
around Coolidge Corner and were approaching Kenmore
Square where the already large spectator crowd that had
been lining the course since the start in Hopkinton was
swelled by huge numbers of baseball fans coming from
Fenway Park where they had been watching the Red Sox
playing the New York Yankees. I had no idea where BB
was in relation to myself. In my pathetic attempts to look
around, I had been unable to make him out among the
throng of runners behind me. But it must have been very
close by now. People were already chanting ‘Bud-dy…
Bud-dy ….Bud-dy’ as I ran past.
“Look you have done my new pyjamas? You’ve torn
them!” she wails.
“Sorry babes, I just had a bad dream. It’s all AF’s fault”, I
mumble.
I’m in no mood for lengthy explanations. I jump out of
bed, throw on some clothes, grab my gear bag and run
out the door to avoid further recriminations.
Down broad Commonwealth Avenue, one foot in front of
the other. Move your arms, the legs will follow. Right turn
into Hereford, then left into Boylston. The finish banner
just visible in the distance, less than 1k to go. You can do
it. The spectator support is fantastic. I can hear go
someone shouting ‘Go Sydney’ among the frantic ‘Bud-dy’
screams. It’s nearly over.
The aftermath
I arrive at the rendezvous with the HSS runners with
barely 2 hours of restless sleep to my credit and try
desperately to get some sleep before the race although
the adrenalin has already started pumping and sleep
becomes an impossibility. Later during the race I feel as if
I have been put through the wringer, and even though I
manage to finish without mishap, I miss my BP by a full
10 minutes. Naturally I blame it on AF.
The post-race recovery party put on by our sister club in
a restaurant a block away from the finish is a congenial
affair (see picture).
I arrive late but I have a good excuse. Together with
many other runners I had signed up for a research
project conducted by the famous Boston Children’s
Hospital to study physiological changes in people under
stress such as can be expected while running a marathon.
Talk to me about stress! I have to give a blood sample
and complete a lengthy questionnaire. In return, I come
away with a T-shirt and a pair of sox. I smile to myself as
16
BLISTER 105
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I try to picture researchers faces when they read some of
my responses.
Author’s note
Since our first meeting, BB and I have become good
friends, real buddies so to speak. BB is indeed an
extraordinary person; a legend on his own racing
prostheses; just as our AF has become a legend in his
own race report.
As I enter the restaurant, I pick out JC. He smilingly
points to the only empty seat. It’s between himself and a
guy I don’t seem to have met so far. As I sit down, JC
introduces us:
To anybody thinking of running Boston I say, go for it,
experience the legend and continue the tradition. It
requires running a qualifying time but with a bit of hard
training and the Strider spirit you can do it. Good luck!
“Sorry Heiko, but after listening to your preposterous
story last night I couldn’t resist pulling your leg a bit……,
meet our club patron and runner extraordinaire … Bud
Beinloser …… or BB to his friends. BB couldn’t race today
because he wasn’t able to get his new racing prostheses
correctly programmed in time.”
To find out more about our sister club, the fabulous
Heartbreak Hill Striders, go to:
I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming this
time.
http://www.heartbreakhill.org/
They should have just shot me 2
A
s we survey the green and white figures warming
up, a novel sensation overwhelms us. What is this
feeling? It's so strong, so pure, and strangely
exhilarating as we acknowledge raw signs of total
detestation. Greenford FC. Think Cardiff Vs Swansea or
Melbourne Victory Vs Adelaide United, and today's match
holds even more fervour - the semi-finals of the Southern
Region Cup.
pub on an evening out with the Slough Ladies Football
Club.
Anyone else fancy dredging up their claim to fame in an
humiliating sports scene...contact Jess Baker, and we’ll get
it written up in the next Blister issue for you. Be a saviour –
schaudenfraude!! Jess Baker [[email protected]]
Approaching the 87th minute, it is 1-1, only 2 yellow
cards have been issued (a commendable tally given
previous bouts against Greenford) and extra time is
imminent. When Louise Walker (as seen in Bend it Like
Beckham) receives the ball on her left, knocks it to her
right, and strikes through perfectly with her laces to
drive it dogmatically towards the Greenford goal.
Whoops of joy, and growls of "yes" are ejaculated
prematurely from mouths of the Slough players, as the
ball rubs noses with the white goal line.
The triumphant thoughts of stepping out for a Cup final
are abruptly severed, as Jess Baker (as not seen in Bend it
Like
Beckham)
in
her
utter...um...excitement?...passion?...rhythm...? I (still)
don't know, somehow, falls onto the ball (later the
ground was scrutinized - unsuccessfully - for divots and
other anomalous stimuli) stopping it dead on that gate to
glory. Faces are grasped by hands, and transmogrify into
looks of incomprehension and then horror, as, for what
seems like a blurry eternity, Jess Baker flounders around
trying to get her bum up off from the ball, but alas, to no
avail; Jess’ spirit joins her in the muddy goal mouth with
a thud, as the Greenford defender manages to kick the
ball clear.
Guzz Buzz
Amid a lot of complaint and discussion about the
transport system, Sydney radio station 2MMM
organized a challenge by various modes of transport to
see which was fastest in peak morning traffic. This
involved a time trial in travelling from Epping to the
city. For the 24k journey, a bus, a car and a runner were
pitted against one another. We’re not sure who the car
and bus driver were but the runner was our Glenn
Guzzo!
Naturally, we Striders knew who would win but, the
rest of Sydney had to find out. And the times?
Bus: 2hours
Car: 1hr 45min
Glennmobile: 70 minutes
If you want to see a quick video grab of the challenge go
to
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/shows/theshebang
/video/eppingroadchallenge/index.html
It goes into extra time. They score. We lose. And still, to
this day, it’ll be one of the first stories bought up in the
17
BLISTER NO 105
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When did you join the Striders?
efore the 2002 Canberra Marathon - I started
showing up in 2001. I’d just moved to Sydney and
didn’t really know where to run. I hadn’t done
much running before – on and off at school and uni. My
runs back then were 4km and I wanted to do the City-toSurf - I wasn’t thinking of doing a Marathon.
and stayed together. At Crosslands (50k) I remember
thinking “This is the furthest I’ve ever run”. As I had
never done Trailwalker I listened to what the others said.
They made sure I ate and drank and finished my water
bottle by the next drink station. I was lucky being with
such sensible people. We were all about the same age
group and I had something in common with each one of
them. Tim was a Strider, there was another girl in the
team, and another guy was doing his first Trailwalker.
B
I ran with the Striders 7am Group which had a lot of
MTGers in it and I met Julie McGaw who suggested we
run with the MTG for 15k as they ran our pace. People
kept asking what marathon I was training for and I’d give
them a blank look – I just wanted to run the C2S! But
each week we ran further and before we knew it we’d
done all the training for a marathon. Jim Moody was in
my MTG group and Michael Bailey was the leader.
Michael kept the group together and got everyone
through. My first marathon was around 4:30.
I’d had no taper as I’d done Mount Wilson-Bilpin the
week before and the gym the night before. I’m a bit lazy
for myself but tried hard for the team. I thought I was the
weakest link, which made me try harder, but I found
there is no strongest person. It’s always fluctuating
through the team as to who’s strongest. A team event is
completely different to running for yourself. It was the
best thing I could have done.
Did you play any other sports?
No.... a bit of netball, I play sport if it’s around....touch
footy at one workplace. I prefer running to team sports
as I’m not very fast.
I was now allowed into Robin Cameron’s Trailwalker
2006 team - an all-girls team with Sharon Callister and
Jill Reich - a different experience. But each year my
Trailwalkers are getting
slower!
Your running has come
Interview by ANDREW SMITH
on in leaps and bounds
You do triathlons?
in last few years – any
I just did Ironman - one
reason?
on my list of things to try.
I started doing ultras and
It’s a big challenge
something shifted in my
because I’m not a
head and I thought a
swimmer or a biker. But
marathon wasn’t far any
‘never say never’ – this
more. I’d just finished
year Ironman dropped
Winner of Maria Gemenis-Cruikshank
Trailwalker and most of
the necessity of a
Outstanding Achievement Award for 2007
the training for the Great
qualifying time so I
North Walk 100 Miler
thought ‘now’s the time’
was slow bush and I felt
as they might bring it
guilty
running
a
back and I could never
Marathon (Sydney) – a mere 42km on road when I get in if I had to qualify. It was harder than I thought.
should have been doing 50-60km bush. So I tried to run Before my first Ironman I had to do a Half Ironman. I did
well (without a watch) to make up for it and broke 4 Port Macquarie and found running fitness doesn’t get you
hours for the first time - after many attempts. I went through. I nearly didn’t make the bike cutoff and I had
from 4:08 to 3:38, when I’d previously been wondering nothing else to give. I got a real fright and had to rethink
how I could cut off 8 minutes.
my plan of getting through Ironman on running.
I also did Huskisson – that’s almost a Half – (80 bike
How many Marathons is that now? 3 Canberra, 3 Gold instead of 90, 20km run instead of 21 and 2km swim
Coast, 3 Sydney
instead of 1.8 –all so they don’t have to keep to IM
guidelines). I was last on the bike, nearly last on the
Your 2005 Trailwalker got my attention…
swim, but caught some in the run. I’m not one of those
Trailwalker 2005 was my first real ultra. On the day Striders who are ‘real’ triathletes, I’m a runner who has a
before the race, I saw an ad in Cool Running and I got in.
go at a triathlon. It’s all a lot more showy with the bike
and the gear and that’s not me.
I had applied for another team earlier but got rejected
(they went with a more experienced runner). My heart What was your Tri training?
had jumped at the idea of running Trailwalker and when I never swim a lot because it’s boring – one pool session
I was rejected I hadn’t realised I wanted to do it so much pw of up to 4km (2km is good). I did some ocean swims
- I’d never run further than Six Foot Track.
but it takes the whole day when I need to fit in a long ride
or run. If I went in the pool 4 or 5 times pw I could knock
My (last-minute) team had to accept me as they couldn’t 10 mins off my time but I would go insane. I did 3
start without a 4th person. Long-time Strider Tim Austin sessions pw on the bike of 140k up to 180k - at Akuna
was our strongest runner, we ran really well as a team Bay or Mount White. I did 4 runs pw. I do more running
Personal Profile - Allison Lilley
18
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
than biking. I was doing STaRs of 30k as I was also
training for Six Foot Track.
that flare up if I do high mileage. For a 100 miler – 4550k at weekend, 3 x 10k in the week, so a total of 80100k pw. It’s low for an ultra runner. I find it hard to say
no to a social run so I do the Equaliser course and the
Summer Series Orienteering in the evening for fun. The
Orienteering has a 45minute time limit - so that’s my
only speed training.
Who did you train with for Ironman?
Whoever I could, there wasn’t always somebody
available. I trained with Marie, whom I met at Great
North Walk, but she was much faster than me on the bike
so I couldn’t do bike with her. I tried Karen Kaehne but
she also dropped me on the bike. I did a lot of training
with a friend Vania who was training for a Half Ironman
while her husband Nick was doing the full Ironman. It’s
difficult training on bike with a bloke, girls are slower as
we don’t have the muscle mass. (I don’t like bike
training).
Do you run many STaRs?
I like to do STaRs but when training for hilly bush it
doesn’t always suit. I’ve run them all now so I pick and
choose.
Training partners?
A few Cool Runners in Trailwalker - Danielle McCormack
and Clare Holland. The Equaliser with Julie McGaw and
Jenny Quinn. I train with people doing the same race to
do training that suits the race.
The Bike...
I borrowed a lighter bike at the last minute which you are
not supposed to do. It was all last minute, most people
sort it out 6 months before.
I was still learning to use cleats, I got the wrong cleats for
my shoes so they were not coming out and I ended up on
a car bonnet at one stage.
What preparation did you do for the Coast-to-Kosci?
– I did my preparation for Trailwalker and Great North
Walk and tried to recover from GNW with 2 weeks on
‘light duties’ - 1 week running and 1 week taper. I did no
special training. I was worried because I didn’t know
much about it - I don’t like road-running and I was
worried I wouldn’t like it. In fact it was very scenic and
not like running roads. I was originally going to help out
as a runner to accompany the competitors at night and
support them and I hadn’t thought about doing it until
Paul Every, the organiser, suggested it after GNW. Then a
girl I met on GNW talked about it - so all these people
sowed the seed. I thought about it, then made enquiries
- which is always dangerous, then asked Clare Holland if
she would crew for two.
A moving car? No - stationary at lights, I leant on it then
ended up laying across the bonnet.
That’s why I like the run at Ironman – I’m not going to
drown or fall off my bike. It’s easy - just put one foot in
front of another whereas others are fazed by the
marathon.
And you do ultras...
My first ultra was the 100k Trailwalker, although the real
hard core don’t count it. Great North Walk was my first
100 miler. Then four weeks later I did the City-to-Surf.
The balls of my feet were still sore four weeks later so I
don’t recommend GNW straight before C2K. I will do C2K
again but Great North Walk is the right event for me. It
runs from Newcastle (where I’m from) to Patonga (near
Sydney) and links the two cities through the bush. I
might do the 100k (as opposed to 100 mile) if also doing
the City-to-Surf. When you are running the 100 mile and
the others drop out at 100k you are in a different
dimension – it’s a different headspace if you are doing
the 100 miler. On the occasion I did the race and dropped
out at 100k I didn’t just get to 100k and decide to finish,
I’d decided what I could do at 50k (although others tried
to get me to continue and said I looked alright).
What’s the next target?
It’s only 3 weeks since Ironman! Trailwalker again.
Another ultra but not decided which. City-to-Surf, Great
North Walk and I may do the Glasshouse 100 miler.
Bogong-Hotham? I’d be worried I wouldn’t meet the
cutoffs.
Kepler?
You have to be organised in advance as the slots fill up
quickly. I read the Michael Bailey Blister article which
brought it to my attention. I just read about Marathon de
Sables and thought it isn’t my thing.
Spartathlon? I’ve only done one 100 miler so want to get
my confidence up before I go overseas. Trailwalker has
many checkpoints but most ultras don’t. Great North
What’s your training?
Never really high mileage. I get ITB and knee problems
Allison’s PBs
Coast-to-Kosciuszko
Great North Walk
Trailwalker
Six Foot
Marathon
Half
10k
2007 – Female course record of 40:27:54
2007 100 miles –2nd Female
2006 100km (6th outright and 2nd F – but unofficially as entered for 100 mile)
‘Phantom Torsos’ team 16h 51m – 14th place
5h 11m (in 2008 - one hour off the previous year)
3h 37m (I’m scared to do another in case I don’t get a time anywhere near.)
1h 52m (I did 1h 46m for half of the Sydney marathon so it’s soft at the moment.)
45m 46s (down from 50 mins last year).
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BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Walk has 30k between some checkpoints so it can be 5-6
hrs before you see someone. You have to be confident
about map reading, keeping warm, and eating and
drinking right.
What’s your recommended first ultra?
Trailwalker is really good because you can get so much
support. There are so many people on it you can’t get lost
and can pick up or drop clothes. For a Tri – Huskisson or
Newcastle Sparky Helmore (500m swim, 20k bike, 4k
run) – small ones to start.
Does work help or hinder?
Shame I’ve got a job ! I’m a finance broker in a small
company. It’s close to home so I can train in the morning.
Any tips?
‘Have a go’ - if you want to, you can. Just work out what
you need to do to get there and pick the brains of others
for your own confidence.
Are you running the SMH Half?
I had no vision past Ironman, I’m not fast on a Half. I do
the longer stuff because it’s too hard to run fast.
By VANIA DAUNER
1 June 2008
The Great NOSH
L I N D F I E L D
T O
F
ootrace
S E A F O R T H
For the past few years I’ve
heard about this race – the one
that is not an out and back and
has a strange name.
Two
things didn’t appeal to me:
getting to Lindfield and
finishing in Seaforth and then
figuring out how to get back to
Lindfield; the other was bush
running – I’m a tad clumsy and
not a regular bush runner so in
my mind I had two good
excuses to overlook The Great
NOSH Footrace.
At 9.45am runners started
making their way to the start
line. They made their way past
the Lindfield Oval stand, past
tennis courts and down onto a
wide bush trail. I felt like I had
walked about 500 metres by
the time I reached the start line
in the bush. I couldn’t quite
see the start line as I was in the
middle of the running field.
The start line was in an area
named Soldiers Memorial Park.
At 10am over 400 runners and
15 walkers set off on their
morning journey to Seaforth.
This year though would be
different! My husband decided
not to do this race so this meant
I had a chauffeur to take me
Lindfield and to then collect me
at the end! Very good!
Race day: When I arrived at
Lindfield Oval things were
looking pretty good.
The
weather was cool with a bit of
cloud cover which looked like
rain but nothing serious. I
walked up to the registration
table and handed over $20.00
(a bargain race entry!) and
received in return a bib. As I
prepared myself for the race
more runners and familiar faces
starting turning up – a good
turnout of Striders and Cool
Runners. 36 Sydney Striders in
total!
Even though she had been prized from her new
Sports car hours beforehand, Vania still felt very
attached to it’s gorgeous steering wheel.
The bush track remained wide
and flat for nearly a kilometre
and then slowly became
narrower with a few stair
climbs. By about the three km
mark I had encountered three
conga lines, where we stood
and waited in line to clamber
over a fallen tree and go up
stairs. The first three kms
were spent with runners
closely in front and behind and
jostling to get past. I kept my
eyes firmly set on the path in
front of me as I didn’t want to
trip over rocks or tree roots. I
can honestly say for this part I
missed a fair bit of the scenery
from focusing so much on the
ground.
Around four km to five kms the
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BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
trail was quite flat and became wide again in parts,
allowing runners to spread out a bit more, and I managed
to take the opportunity and look at the bush scenery
around me. Running along I could see Middle Harbour
and take in the great environment. At the 5km mark I
reached the Roseville Bridge. This part involved power
walking up the side of a hill, then walking along a
footpath under the bridge, passing a homeless person
who had set up a pretty large living area, as well as
having the company of a very excited Labrador, who
decided it was much more fun to abandon his owners
and join the mad rush of runners on their way up to the
top of the bridge. Running along the bridge was good – it
was flat, no tree roots or rocks so I could safely look up
again and check out the views around me.
out on to the oval and run to the finish – a hard run but a
very satisfying one!
Coming off the bridge, I passed the water station and was
guided back into the bush by volunteers. As I went back
into the bush, quite a few stairs were ahead, with this
part of the run becoming a bit more technical and
narrow. Once again I had to watch where I was putting
my feet. Runners at this point were still nicely spread
out, with very little overtaking occurring. We were also
starting to make our way downwards, which meant an
ascent would soon occur somewhere on the course.
The month of June saw the State Cross Country
Championships being held. The venue once again was
the challenging course on Rod and Jan Gibbs' farm at
Willandra, near Nowra on the south coast of NSW. The
undulating course contains an infamously steep hill
which can mentally break the toughest of athletes. This
doubles as the NSW selection race for the National Cross
Country Championships with the first 2 runners being
automatic qualifiers.
Between the eight km and nine kms mark I found that we
were now heading upwards and having to climb large
rocks. A conga line started to form again, with most
runners scrambling up rocks on their hands and knees.
This was pretty tough going for most of us. When we
finally scrambled up to the top to a road, seeing houses
and flat grass was great – it gave the majority of us a
chance to breathe and bring down our heart rates!
In the women’s race, Marnie Ponton, a newcomer to
Striders, took out Individual gold in the Women’s race,
outclassing Eliza Stewart to win by 20 seconds. Marnie, a
proven steeplechaser, has just recently built up her
endurance and raced smartly over the 8km course. This
means that Marnie will be selected to represent NSW and
Striders at the National champs coming up on 23rd
August in Geelong. Jenny Truscott came in 12th, LisaAnne Carey 18th, Ingrid Grace 29th & 2nd for 45+, Mary
Stringer 34th & 3rd for 45+, Amanda Underwood 35th,
Caroline Yarnell 41st, Bernadette Gregory 50th, Deanna
Lum 55th. From a teams’ perspective the women
managed 4th in the Open and 1st in the 45+.
Tim Cradock came from the back of the field to finish 8 th.
Remarkable, considering how difficult it would be to
overtake for much of the race. Also two ex Striders
featured in the top 10. Ed.
Athletics Report
By GLENN GUZZO
Soon enough we were guided back into the bush for
some more technical bush running. I was able to pick up
my pace again and around the 13km mark the track
widened. This part of the track was strange to run on as
it was mulched tree branches and twigs. It was soft to
run on but you had to take care as tripping over the twigs
and tree branches seemed like a real possibility. At the
14 km mark the bush trail narrowed with more technical
running. It felt like it wouldn’t end but very soon
Seaforth Oval was appearing with flags and sign posts
showing the finishing chute. It was a great feeling to get
In the men’s race, some solid performances saw a Gold
teams result for the Open and a Silver for the 45+ team.
Jeremey Horne came 4th, Andrew Tuckey 6th, Chris
Truscott 8th, Tony Fattorini 17th, Tim Cochrane 21st
(backing up from Comrades), Dennis Wylie 39th & 1st for
over 50, Chris Dwyer 48th and 2nd for over 50, Frank
Zeichner 55th, EJ Davie 89th, Peter Hibberd 101st.
Striders standout performances:
With only 3 events left for the Winter season, Striders are
currently Top of the Premiership table in 4 categories:
- Open Men (leading by 5 over Kembla Joggers)
- B grade Men (leading by 5pts over Kembla Joggers)
- 45+ Men (leading by 17 over Hills District)
- 45+ Women (leading by 24 over Bankstown)
th
7 place –
Richard Green – 66.14 – The first Strider
to get to the finish line.
th
8 place –
Tim Cradock – 67.20
th
st
9 place –
Dennis Wylie – 67.27 – 1 in 50-59 males.
th
st
28 place – Jan Hales – 72.39 – 1 in 30-39 females.
th
st
69 place– Paula Shingler – 80.18 – 1 in 40-49
females.
th
st
180 place – Lorraine Spanton – 93.04 – 1 in 50-59
females.
With the Open Women team trailing Sutherland by 3
points, the season is destined to have a close finish.
Upcoming events are the Short Course Cross at
Abbotsbury 19th July, Road relays in Wollongong 2nd
August,
and
Sydney
Marathon.
21
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
President’s Report
I
t appears that we have survived to read another
edition of the Blister and lo and behold I am still here.
I’m not sure why, but I have not been able to offload
the Presidency of Striders on eBay no matter how much I
am willing to pay.
publication of race results due to being unfinancial (this
is checked automatically on the club database and is not
something the members of the race volunteers have any
control over). It has been a problem that we have not
been able to unravel without going back into previous
year’s financial transactions to see who paid what and
when, so the Committee has decided to only allow
renewals for a single year for the future. Anybody who
has already paid in advance will still be renewed in the
usual way.
At the last meeting it was decided to set up a web page
with references to other running clubs who our members
have run with and are willing to vouch for or with other
clubs who may be interested in participating. If you have
run with any clubs, local or international, that you
believe are worth contacting when we travel, drop a line
to [email protected] . Please provide details
such as web site, email address and contact and location
plus any comments about the club you believe may be of
interest.
What we have been up to
We have had an extremely busy time since the last
publication. We have worked through two major events
on our calendar and emerged from the other side with
our reputation unblemished and probably somewhat
enhanced. Firstly, we assisted with the running of the
Athletics NSW 10km Road Championships, which was an
unqualified success with some 700 runners, and followed
that with our Annual Awards Dinner in May, which also
exceeded expectations. I won’t go into details here as I
believe there are articles which will provide greater
information later in this edition. However, there are a
couple of points that you should be aware of. The first is
that the Athletics NSW 10km event returned revenue to
the club similar to what we would usually receive from
our 10km races. Secondly, we probably had the largest
turnout of members at a Club Awards Dinner since it’s
inception. I would like to congratulate Glenn Guzzo and
Chris Truscott for their efforts in making both events so
successful and also say THANKYOU on behalf of the Club
to all of the volunteers who assisted them.
Since the last edition of the Blister, we have had two
Committee meetings and, even though we have had some
major expenses, the largest of which was the Awards
Dinner, our financial position is still looking good. As you
are no doubt aware, the Committee sets a subsidy for the
evening and the more members that attend the greater
the cost to the club. With 233 attendees, it definitely
made a dent in the finances however all feedback
received indicated that it was money very well spent
indeed. Chris already has plans for next year, although it
will be a challenge for him to top this year.
The Committee is now coming to grips with what it
means to manage an organisation with approximately
700 members. On their behalf, I would like to request
that a little restraint might be in order when enquiring
about your various concerns. We are all doing our best
for you and if it takes us a little time to respond to your
emails or letters, please understand that we also have
private lives and responsibilities to our employers to
satisfy.
We have again been requested to provide Pacers for the
Sydney Marathon and have received a great response to
our request from the membership. We have also been
approached by non-members to assist and have included
them where we needed to make up numbers. A quick
hello and thank you from Striders to those non-members
on the day would be appreciated by all concerned.
During my recent trip to Singapore I had the pleasure of
catching up with Past President David Bray. We had
planned on a run in the jungle around MacRitchie
Reservoir with the local wildlife (David advised that we
wouldn’t be the only monkeys on the track) but
unfortunately rain, thunder and lightning made that
somewhat implausible. Instead, we enjoyed a leisurely
tourist style drive through the area and even managed to
find a track that David ensured me he would be including
for hill reps to prepare for next year’s 6ft Track. Rob and
I caught up with David and Justine and the family for
dinner at their home and they have asked me to pass on
their regards to you all and hope to see you on the road
sometime soon.
Committee Notes
The following points were discussed and agreed upon at
recent Committee meetings;
1) The Committee has agreed to make a donation of
$500.00 to the Myanmar Relief fund.
2) The Club will again be sponsoring the Cheetah at
Taronga Zoo. This had lapsed recently but, as the
Cheetah is our mascot, it was deemed to be
appropriate.
3) The club will be forwarding copies of the Blister to a
select list of clubs of a similar nature to Sydney
Striders.
4) We are seeing a drop in the number of new members
who are joining into the Club’s email LiSST. For those
of you who are not on the LiSST and are concerned
The Committee has also made a couple of changes that
will affect the way we operate and will also require a
little more input from you, our members. The first
change will be the renewal process each year. We had
previously set up a renewal for multiple years but this
created a number of problems in keeping track of those
members who renewed their membership for a number
of years but not their 10km race preregistration. There
have also been members who have renewed and thought
they had paid the previous year when in fact it was two
years earlier, which then caused problems with the
22
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
about receiving SPAM and junk mail, please note that
the email to members is monitored and that only
emails that are specific to the club and are running
related are forwarded to the membership. There are
NO advertising or non-running related emails
allowed through the system.
5) We have recently had a number of members whose
membership had lapsed. In some cases this was due
to the points mentioned above on multiple year
renewals and for various other reasons. The
Committee realizes that during the natural course of
events we sometimes get injured or relocated work
wise and similar events which mean that we are
unable to run with the club for extended periods and
don’t renew our membership. To provide continuity
for those of you in that position, we have agreed to
allow a member to renew their membership as long
as the renewal is within a two year period of their
membership lapsing.
6) A special vote of thanks was given by the Committee
to both Glenn and Chris for their work on the
Athletics NSW 10km and our Awards Dinner
7) The Committee decided to purchase a video camera
to record the finish of our races. This will mean that
two positions previously requiring volunteers to
record numbers at the finish chute will no longer be
required. Just remember to SMILE when next you
finish as these videos will be stored and at sometime
in the far distant future your smiling face will be
displayed on someone’s TV or PC for the generations
to come.
Adverts
We are still looking for somebody to take
over from Kevin Tiller as Race Director of
the Six Foot Track Marathon. Kevin is
staying on the committee for the ensuing
year but, after 8 years at the helm, is looking
to hand the race on to the next generation.
The role is no longer as arduous as in
previous years when Kevin virtually
managed things single handed. There is now
in place an experienced management
committee that is also supported by the
Club Committee so that, while there is still
an amount of work to do, much can be
delegated to the various committee
members and additional assistance can be
provided should it be necessary from the
Club’s Committee. Any interested parties
can contact either Kevin or myself at
[email protected] if they have any
queries.
The Committee is looking into a temporary
membership for interstate and international
visitors who are likely to be based in Sydney
for periods of two weeks to up to three
months. This will also encompass
prospective members who are interested in
coming along to see what the club is about.
More information on this will be included in my next
report.
We are still asking for any interested parties who are
interested in managing the 10km series for us. Jo Cowan
has very kindly taken on the role for the time being and is
more than happy to show you the ropes of what happens
and how it works at any of the upcoming races. It is still
possible for you to run the race (as Jo currently does) as
there is a very strong group of volunteers who help put
the races together. Any interested parties can contact
either Jo or myself at [email protected] we
will be more than happy to spend some time with you to
explain what the job entails.
Brian Ogilvy has been trialling sending out upcoming
race information. If the feedback we get from this is
positive we will investigate making it a permanent
feature and have it available on the web.
That’s about it for now.
Cheers
Jim
This space contains the volume of foul language that had to be
edited from Jim’s report. Phew!!!
Match the facts
By Jess Baker
How well do you know your fellow Striders? The names on the left
do NOT match the facts. Can you re-arrange them correctly?
NAME
FACT
Dale Thompson
Gave up Hairdressing to become a Radio Announcer
and once dated Tom Jones' niece/nephew.
Robyn Moody
Was held-up in a bank robbery in Barcelona!
Bruce Inglis
Was told by a Nobel prize winner to continue sparkling,
started Henley Regatta one year, who's great great
Aunt was lady in waiting to Queen Victoria (her
1865 haggis recipe is available on the web)
and has different colour eyes!
Sue Login
Obtained sponsorship as a Motocross Rider
Lee Baker
Is a Second Dan Black Belt in Judo and taught Judo
in Japan for 14 months!
23
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Above: Filled with rising anger, the 45
minute bunch pursue Steve shouting,
“Hume, hit the highway!”
Above right: Past and present Queens of
the 10k Series.
Right: Two completely different styles of
running, Arthur Lydiard (far right) and
Arthur Murray (middle)
Below: The 40 minute crew train for their
weekend part time Mafia jobs.
10k
Series
Pictorial
Gerry Arthur gets
behind a camera at
North Head this year
24
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
They come and they go, but the
maddest of them come again and
again! Within one race there are
many smaller races, either
against friends and equals or,
against the self or the clock.
The 10k series is
more popular than
the STaRs because
you can’t get lost;
there is always
someone to follow.
In this case, Jo
Cowan leads Ray
Doran and Danielle
McCormack on the
merry chase.
Right: The merry chase over, Richard
Green, deeply shocked by Little
John’s, I mean Jaap Bakkar’s quick
time today, pines for Sherwood
Forest.
Far right: E.J. doesn’t know where to
look and Tim Cochrane is bemused
when Wayne Gregory’s personal
groomsman reaches across to clean
out his nostrils.
Top right: Stephen Jackson checks
the results as they happen.
25
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
From The Archives
the new team had started with a bang coming 2nd in the
NSW Road C’ships with Jonathon Craig first O-40 and
Chris Truscott placing 11th. Charles Coville told of the
road (and obstacles) to his first Ironman (12h43m28s and
46th from 77 finishers). Kylie Catchpole found that a 6am
Group runner can get a top three place in an international
race – if you pick your race wisely. Kylie picked the World
Conference on Solar Energy Fun run in Osaka and was 2nd
female. Phil Kennedy found himself in Europe with a
spare running weekend and the best offer was the Maas
Marathon in Maastricht complete with Belgian beer at
drink stations. First Strider in the SMH Half was Darren
Benson in 1:13:03 (6th NSW resident) followed by John
Young and Stuart Chellis, while Jenny Truscott ran
1:23:02 ahead of Joanne Cowan and Catriona Cater.
Barry Rutter gave the race story of the ‘Striders 200+’
Trailwalker team as they set an O-50s record in 18h 32m,
with Warwick Selby, David King and Darryl Chrisp
making up the team (and were 6th complete team to
finish). Jim Cryer made the Sydney Morning Herald
‘Health’ section after a hospital stay with an infected foot
from bugs in damp running shoes getting into cracked skin.
Joe Degabriele lauded his ‘10km Angels’ – the 10K Series
support team and Tina Campbell wrote of a STaR in
Forster when a group of Striders visited Nick and Kirsten
Themsen. At Gold Coast first Striders were Kelvin
Marshall (3:01:54) and Joanne Barton (3:39:08) – they
were followed by Bruce Craven, Neil Barker and Sharon
Callister, Allison Lilley. Jenny Truscott won an
Australian Championship Bronze in the Half. We were
short of STaR hosts with one set of hosts, Richard Wassell
and Brad Renshaw, temporarily covering two STaRs.
Stephen Jackson gave his first President’s Report and
Kevin Tiller supplied an appreciation of outgoing
President Jim Screen (1997-2003) – Jim could be credited
with organising insurance for the Striders at reasonable
cost at a time when other clubs and many races were being
damaged by high insurance premiums. Jim organised full
affiliation of the Striders to Athletics NSW which saw the
start of a Striders ANSW team. In the 10K Series leaders
were Joanne Cowan, Catriona Cater, Clara Vucetic and
Darren Benson, Jonathon Craig, Steve Hume. Super
series leaders were Darren Benson, Joel Mackay, Keith
Bateman and Robin Cameron, Joanne Cowan, Allison
Lilley.
10 Years Ago
The front page story was the wedding of Richard Wassell
and Bronwyn Roberts (so that must be a significant
anniversary). The AGM (at North Sydney Rugby Union
Club) was abandoned due to lack of quorum – Mark Fiore
suggested scheduling a discussion on uniform to boost
numbers! A good-looking young bloke called Andrew
Smith was apparently first Strider home at the Club
Championships in Canberra in 2h 49m 13s (this was 10
years ago!) followed by Richard Briscoe and Kelvin
Marshall. Joanne Cowan was first female Strider in
2h52m00s followed by Julie Wessels and Joan Bolz.
Michael Bailey wrote about his first two marathons and
the importance of a steady pace with cautionary tales on
the effect on your time from going out too fast. At the SMH
Half, John Young was first Strider in 1:10:42 followed by
Dean Degan and Mathew Kaley while Joanne Cowan
recorded 1:18:52 followed by Breeda Kelly and Annaliese
Williams. The ‘Committee Deliberations’ included the
problem of fast runners starting with earlier groups and
causing the groups to split up (nothing changes!) The
Striders Awards Night was at North Sydney Rugby Union
Club and featured Strider Bryce Courtney as guest
speaker. Kevin O’Kane and Bill Blecha were STaR Hosts
of the Year, Jonathan Trope won the Blister Award with
‘Only 70k to go ‘, an account of an epic and over-long bike
ride. Joanne Cowan won the Maria Gemenis-Cruickshank
Outstanding Achievement Award. Derek Smith was
reported to have had a heart bypass (and has completed
many marathons and triathlons since). Jonathan
Worswick sent an account of the Zane Grey Highline 50
mile trail run in Arizona where he was 4th. Mark Fiore
wrote an inspirational account of his first Ironman - ‘The
Rookie’. Amanda and Geoff Taylor announced the birth of
Peter William. John Young did a PB of 2:29 at the Gold
Coast Marathon followed home by Wayne Stanton and
Kelvin Marshall. Kelvin was first Strider in the Cities
Marathon in 2:58 followed by Richard Briscoe and Steve
Urwin. Jim Screen’s 3h50m would have been faster if he
hadn’t had to wait four minutes for a train crossing the
course. Leaders in the 10K Series were Joanne Cowan,
Anna-Greta Pearl, Annaliese Williams and Mathew
Kaley, John Young, Richard Briscoe. Bronwyn
Roberts/Wassell was leading the handicap.
To be announced
Coming from several sources recently is a suggestion
that we should have a register of contacts between
clubs. How this is to be conducted is being debated in
the committee at present but one club recently
affiliating with us is a Brisbane club, Brisbane River City
Runners. They mention our club on their website as a
“sister club” You can check them out at
http://www.rivercityrunners.net/events.html if you are
travelling that way
5 Years Ago
Phil Hugill’s story of dunes, dehydration and blisters from
the 250km Marathon de Sables was on the front page.
Jenny Truscott won the NSW 10k Road Race
Championship in 40m01s (Jo Cowan was first 40-49),
Jenny also won the Mother’s Day Classic 10k. The first
Striders ANSW coordinator Richard Sarkies reported that
26
BLISTER NO 105
ADVICE
MAY - AUGUST 2008
...from Auntie Joan Strider
Send your questions to Auntie Joan, c/o The Blister Editor.
We do not guarantee useful answers but we will protect
anonymity.
your observation
provides perfect
conversational
fodder for a long
run.
Dear Auntie Joan,
As a female Strider, I have constant trouble finding a
running top to suit. The new “unisex” top gapes at the
sides, leaving me feeling an arctic chill and, no doubt,
providing others with a view of my chest. The earlier
“spaghetti strap” model may work for some, but not
those that need support! And I know many of the male
Striders hold the original “green stripe” top in great
affection, but even if it was possible to get one these days,
it just doesn’t incorporate the latest in support
technology or design either. How can I find a stylish and
practical solution to this dilemma? Should I just give up
and wear my own running tops?
Dear Auntie Joan,
I ran Woodford to
Glenbrook recently and took it easy, enjoying a lovely
run. After finishing, I realised that most other Striders
had pushed hard, many finishing in quite a physically
distressed state. Then, I overheard a conversion between
Striders on which the topic of vomiting whilst running
was raised – the conclusion was that it could be quite a
good thing because “it shows that you are pushing
yourself to the limit”.
Stylish and stymied
Am I the only Strider that thinks that this behaviour is a
bit mad?
Dear Stylish,
Easyrunner
Next time you are on a StaR, observe your fellow female
Striders and the variety of approaches that have been
adopted to deal with this problem. One enterprising Strider
took her unisex top to a dressmaker and had it completely
re-shaped. Others content themselves with wearing nonStrider tops but in shades of green approximating a
Striders hue. Still others wear the tops as a second layer
over more structured running gear. I can offer no better
solutions.
Dear Easyrunner,
Mad or not, you will find yourself in the minority in
Striders. No matter what your intrinsic ability, pushing
hard during a race is de rigueur in the club. However, after
completing a race, it is usual to pretend that you took it
easy and could in fact have performed much better had
you really tried.
Stylish, console yourself with the thought that the issue of
running tops provides female Striders with hours of
animated discussion whilst running STaRs and is a useful
diversionary strategy when you find yourself flagging at
about the 25K mark.
A.J.S.
GUESS WHO, DON’T SUE
Which up-and-coming star, originally hailing from
Slough in the UK, recently put in a blistering time for
the SMH half?
Dear Auntie Joan,
I’ve recently noticed that two members of the six o’clock
group (one male and one female) have started regularly
appearing together for the Sunday morning runs. Is it
acceptable to gossip just a little to other runners about
this observation, given that I don’t know for sure that
they have become a couple – perhaps they are just
sharing a ride?
Which busy legal eagle strider has recently been seen
about town with one of our most popular female
striders?
Which well-known club couple recently returned
from a European trip?
Gossiping and guilty
Which committee member recently collected yet
another trophy at the Shoalhaven King of the
Mountain event to add to his extensive collection?
Dear Gossiping,
Naturally, it is acceptable on a STaR to speculate about
such a topic. May I venture to hazard a guess that you have
not long been a Strider, or you would have realised that
A.J.S.
27
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
MARATHON TRAINING GROUP
MTG
The Sydney Marathon Sneakpreview STaR covers
approximately 30kms of the actual Sydney marathon
course, so if you are planning on running Sydney, you’d
be mad to miss it!
Corner
By PHIL SKURRIE
And onwards towards Sydney 08 we run….
The Sydney 2008 Marathon Training Group kicked off in
May this year and we have been running as a group at the
Sunday STaRs since the start of June. The group has
about 20 Striders who are all very enthusiastically
embarking on their quest for their first marathon. We
have had around 10 runners each weekend and recently
ran the Woodford to Glenbrook as our first group race.
Phil Skurrie, MTG Co-Ordinator.
MTG Information:
If you want to receive weekly updates on the MTG, and to
be informed of future MTG events, please send an email
to [email protected].
The group has moved to 25km Sunday runs for the
month of July and will be stretching to 30-35km runs
during August. Be sure to look out for us at the STaRs
and, as always, we encourage more experienced Striders
to join the group and pass on your valuable words of
wisdom for the Striders’ newest marathoners!
So far we have got great support from the Canberra 2008
MTG, and it is great to see that group moving towards
future marathons. Well done to Bruce and Sean for
finishing the Gold Coast Marathon.
Did you know?
Three of the Sydney 2008 MTG regulars are not training
for the Sydney marathon. Fiona and Lenya are training
to run the New York City marathon and Rika is running a
marathon in Iceland! Does anyone have a freezer with a
treadmill in it?
Quote of the Month:
"The marathon's about being in contention over the last
10K. That's when it's about what you have in your core.
You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness
out of yourself, and it really comes down to what's left
inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something
out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things
about the marathon."
- Rob de Castella
The Sydney 2008 MTG are also proud to announce that
we have introduced a new STaR onto the Striders
calendar. The STaR is called the “Sydney Marathon
Sneakpreview” and will be run exactly 3 weeks before
the Sydney Marathon. And it is now the only STaR on the
calendar that offers a 5:30am start and a 35km long
option!
Roll Of Honour
Katherine McSweeney, BenMcSweeney, Craig Dunn, Jaap
Bakker, Shirley Rutter , Viviene Kartsounis, Tom Silk,
Dale Thompson, Philip Fleming, Andrew Fuller, Max
Crossley, Amanda Underwood, Shaun Atchison, William
Ward, Mike Morrissey, Robyn Moody, Suzanne Kelly,
Christine Cullen, Maria DiMarco, David Criniti, Raymond
Wareham, Mike Fowlds, Allan Wareham, David Ward
25 Years
Lesley Maher, Paul Russell, Robi Russell, Graham Butler,
20 Years
Malcolm Satchell, Ian MacArthur, Geoff Taylor, Joanne
Cowan,
15 Years
Jonathan Worswick, George Herisson, Rod Lovel,
Elizabeth Edmonds, David Solomon, Keith White,
Rumour has it...
Frank Zeichner has a great singing voice and was
chosen to test out the acoustics at the Opera House! No,
hang on,... that was Dame Joan Sutherland. Anyway,
having turned down many offers from abroad, he is much
in demand as a local Choral performer being a member
of, not one but, two Gospel Choirs! Most of Frank’s
venues have installed showers so Frank can freshen up
after running back and forth when he has to perform on
the same night in both choirs in different parts of Sydney.
Hence, all the training! The latest information to be
leaked by Opera Australia names Frank as understudying
to become the new Pink Wiggle. We wish him well.
10 Years
Graham Willis, Paula Shingler, Mark Shingler, Dean
Gardiner, Stephen Ball, Jon Patrick,
5 Years
Rebecca Deane, Tim Deane, Gerard Donnan, Nick
Woodhams, James Woodhams, Kerry Ross, Karin Kaehne,
Cameron Arnold, Kerryn Parkinson, GerryArthur, Roger
Cox, Richard Frykberg, Darren Benson, Stephen Kibble,
Melanie Truscott, David Bray, Eric Schmierer, lan Smith,
Mohammed Alkhub, Rick Collins, Ross McCarty,
28
BLISTER NO 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
By KEVIN O’KANE
STaR
T
reks
Throughout the history of the Club, the central plank in our training programs
has been the long Sunday training run, oddly called the “StaR”.
Over almost 30 years, many interesting, scenic and occasionally challenging
courses have been developed, each with its own name and its own charms. And
we even get a hosted breakfast at the end!
THE ROCKS PUSH
it’s up to the Domain and Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, before
following Sydney Cove round to the Opera House. Next
the Circular Quay ferry terminals present a temptation to
go short. But if you did, you’d miss the cruise over the
Harbour Bridge, the visit to the Harbour again at Neutral
Bay, and the return journey via Kirribilli, taking us past
Kirribilli House, up beneath the Bridge to Milsons Point,
before the final rewarding dash across the Bridge, taking
in the magnificent view over the Opera House and Royal
Botanic Gardens. Finally, the Rotunda welcomes you
back.
The Venue
Perhaps the most outstanding element of this StaR (and
there are quite a few) is the venue. Perched high on
Observatory Hill, the view extends over The Rocks to the
Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour, an oasis of
tranquility. Surrounded by lush parkland and Sydney
Observatory, leaving the start might (almost) be the
hardest part of the run.
The Course (long version)
Descending first through the
historic Rocks area, past the old
pubs and terraces, the course then
follows Hickson Road through to
Chinatown, then Darling Harbour.
A tour past the Casino into the old
Wharf precinct, now well into the
process of gentrification, leads us
through Pyrmont and the Fish
Markets. After a visit to Central
Station, we then head through
Hyde Park to tightly packed Wooloomooloo. From there,
it’s up the Butler Stairs to Kings Cross, before the drop to
Rushcutters Bay. Next we pass through the park beside
the acres of sailing ships, to find the distinctive art deco
architecture of Potts Point. Down the hill to Garden
Island, we find the Harbour foreshore which we will now
follow for most of the run. The strange allure of meat pie
and mashed peas is on offer at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels,
before we come across the rebuilt Finger Wharf. Then
Adding to the view rather than enjoying it
The Course (short version)
This StaR is a tour of Old Sydney and nearby areas. Both
scenic and historic, highlights include the Sydney Fish
Markets, Kings Cross, Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, old
terraces, renovated wharves and art deco architecture.
Sydney Cove and the Opera House are particular
favourites, and a dash over the Bridge to Kirribilli and
Neutral Bay finishes off the run.
The hosts
Keith and Margaret White are long time Striders with a
history of Club service. Best known to many for opening
up their house in The Rocks for the Sydney Morning
Herald Half Marathon, they have also hosted the Striders
Picnic Relay in Centennial Park. Both are experienced
marathoners and ultra-marathoners, and are only too
happy to look after the runners.
WonderWoman’s cape slips as she
streaks past the World’s best view.
cape slips
29
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
By JAMES JEFFEREY
Strider runs
B
M
y plans to run the 2008 Boston marathon
started back in 2006, when I travelled to Boston
to run the race, only to come down with a sciatic
nerve injury. On this occasion I started (foolishly) then
hobbled along for 10miles, at which point my leg totally
gave out on me and I had to stop. To say I was
disappointed would be an understatement.
oston 2008
bridge to Cambridge, where they ran a further 3 larger
loops. We waddled around the park. I felt terrible but
was determined to loosen up to run the next day. After
the 2mile fun run, I jogged down to the larger loop of the
Olympic trial and watched the race. I hadn’t been in such
a large crowd watching a road race since the Sydney
Olympic marathon. The atmosphere was electric. At the
finish it was race favourite Deena Kastor who won,
making up more than 2 minutes in the final quarter of the
race.
My preparation for Boston this year was poor.
Commitments with the Western Suburbs Little Athletics
centre saw my weekends 100%
occupied with Little A carnivals.
My training for the April21 event
started on March17, the day after
the Little A’s State Championships.
All up I put in 3 longish runs, all
STaRs. The best one for me was
the Vaucluse STaR. I say ‘best one’
very loosely! During this run I got
left behind by the 6.20 group
despite running as hard as I could
and ‘hit the wall’ at the 20km
mark. Things didn’t look good.
Still, I was determined to have a
crack
at
Boston,
knowing
beforehand it was going to be a
very long day at the office.
Race morning and we had to meet
in the lobby at 6.30am to jump on
the coaches HP had organised to
take us out to Hopkinton.
Hopkinton is a small town about
26 miles west of Boston CBD
where the marathon starts. The
advantage of a private charted
coach was that there were toilets
on board, which saved queuing at
the porta-loos. Still, queues on the
bus were lengthy as well, and lines
for the porta-loos were huge.
Many runners were trying to opt
for a bush but were stopped by
very determined official, whose
job it was to enforce the use of the
porta-loos. I gave up on the lines
both in the bus and porta-loos and
decided to just start and stop at
the first on course porta-loo. This
was a good option with no queue.
I arrived in Boston on April18, the
day before a work commitment in
Boston. Our HP New England team
arranges for the HP foreign teams
to present at a local high school
each year. This year, the
Australian team presented at the
Just prior to the start, the Star
Now having to hoof it, James finds out that
Captain Samuel Douglas Academy
Spangled Banner rang out across
one idle man, one can of spray paint and one
in Brookline. The day at the school
the field of runners. I loved seeing
Church don’t come together to create happy
involved signing the kids’ T-shirts
how all the American runners put
Parishioners
that were given out by our New
their hand over their chest and
England team, lunching with the students, then fielding sang their national anthem with such pride. Then a
questions on marathon running and Australia. With squadron of fighter jets did a fly over, just to ramp up the
hundreds of kids cheering as we left the school, I felt like excitement, if any ramping was required. A few minutes
the kids were expecting a top10 finish from each of the later we were off.
HP team. Little did they know that our best times ranged
The first 2-3 miles of this course are downhill. All advice
from 2.59 through to 5hours for the marathon.
at the Boston marathon expo was to hold back, don’t go
The day before the marathon, our team co-ordinator in out fast or you will pay for it later. I literally rolled down
Boston organised a short fun run in Boston common to the hills, no effort whatsoever. Still, I was going too fast.
co-incide with the US Olympic marathon trials for You simply can’t slow down. The crowd of runners
women. After 2 hours sleep, I crawled out of bed and surround as in the first 1km of the City to Surf. They
down to the lobby to meet the rest of the HP team. I simply push you along. I went through 5km in 20.25,
hadn’t slept well since arriving in Boston. We watched 10km in 40.45. I thought I’d stuffed it. Through 15km in
the Olympic hopefuls round Boston common on their 1.01 and feeling quite good. Then, like most marathons,
first city loop of 3miles before they headed out across the suddenly my running
30
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
style went from a smooth and flowing one to a ‘Cliff
Young’ shuffle. I usually don’t shuffle until the 37- 38km
mark, so slowing down at the 18km mark was disheartening. However, despite feeling terrible, the crowds
along the way encouraged me to keep on going. At one
point, I was walking along past a group of 20-30 guys, all
drunk, with letters painted on their stomachs. All at once
they started chanting “run, run, run”, so I lifted into a
little run. They all cheered and let out a bellow like you’d
hear at a football match. I ran a couple of hundred metres
then walked again. In the last 15km I had this fun match
with a few other guys having bad days. I’d jog past them
while they were walking, then they would jog past me
while I was walking.
there ended up being a lot more walking than running by
the 35km mark. I finally got to the 25mile mark, where I
assessed what sort of time I could run. Sub 3.40 seemed
possible if I simply ran the last mile. So I set off and ran
the last mile without stopping. I finished in 3.39.25. I was
so sore. At the finish we had to walk a further 500 metres
through the de-chipping/medal issuing area, then we
received a silver towel wrap and a food pack. I sat down
to de-chip, only to find I could not get back up again. I
ended up swinging myself up by learning on the food
table with one arm and the guard fence rail with the
other. Finally I made it through the finishing area and
walked across to the Park Plaza where I was staying and
where HP was having an after party.
Seeing that time wasn’t an issue, I decided to stop for a
while and stretch. Not a good idea. I stretched my quad
only to cramp badly in my hamstring. So I sat down for a
while until the cramp subsided. I also tried the old trick
of running between drink stations. I’d stop at every drink
station, have a drink then jog to the next. Sure enough,
Some obvious lessons were learnt during my 2008
Boston campaign. One, you can’t run a marathon off three
25km long runs and, two, you really need to give yourself
at least a week overseas prior to running a marathon. I
hope to get back to Boston at some stage and give it
another go.
Combined ANSW State Road Champs and Striders 10k series race 4
By GLENN GUZZO
At least 542 runners finished the 10k at Homebush last
May, which doubled as the Athletics NSW State Road
championships. There was a larger than usual focus on
our club from the larger running community, as this was
the first time that the two organisations have combined
the event. It brought a number of running communities
together. We also had a 5k for U18 & U16 Juniors which
had 93 finishers, and a 2.5k for U14 and U12 Juniors
which had 95 finishers.
6
7
8
9
10
We had a sub-30 10k male winner in Russell DessaixChin running 29:44 and Women's winner Eliza Stewart
running a 34:27, which I would hasten to guess would be
the fastest times seen at a Striders 10k.
It was a magnificent morning out there, with many
volunteers deserving thanks for their efforts and their
ability to adapt to different roles and work in a
pressurised environment.
0.31.24
0.31.27
0.31.30
0.31.36
0.31.49
n
n
S
n
n
WOMEN
1 Eliza Stewart
2 Billlinda Schipp
3 Noni Clarke
4 Anita Keem
5 Jenny Wickham
6 Verity Tolhurst
7 Lorraine Hince
8 Jenny Truscott
9 Angela Williams
10 Greta Truscott
0.34.27
0.34.53
0.35.19
0.35.49
0.36.40
0.36.57
0.37.14
0.37.17
0.37.20
0.37.49
n
n
n
n
S
n
n
S
n
S
VOLUNTEERS
RACE 4 HOMEBUSH MAY
MEN
1 Russell Dessaix-Chin
2 Ryan Gregson
3 Colin Johnston
4 Kale Simons
5 Simon Hurt
Thomas Crasti
Harry Summers
Jeremey Horne
Ridings Liam
Michael Herlihy
0.29.44
0.30.17
0.30.59
0.31.00
0.31.17
10k Equipment Manager: Peter Woods
Course Measuring & Layout & Pulldown : Stephen
Jackson, David Criniti, Ewan Horsburgh, Dennis Wylie
and Tony Fattorini
Set Up/Pack Down: Allan Wareham, Peter Woods,
Charles King, Ewan Horsburgh, Graham Willis
Registrations: Dale Thompson, Bruce Horsburgh, Sue
Horsburgh, Liz Woodhams, Ross McCarthy, Lisa Carroli,
n
n
n
n
n
31
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Chris Truscott, Brian Ogilwy, Anna White, Farah Jan,
Pauline Evans, Mike Hansen, Paul Hannell, Jo Cowan
Course Officials
1st Marshal at Wentworth Common – Gordon Mai
2nd Marshal Olympic Boulevard – Bruce Inglis
3rd Marshal Holker Busway – Andrew Tuckey, Chris
Truscott
4th Marshal Holker Busway – Ken Smith
Water Stop : Peter and Rebecca Woods , Dean Gardiner
Post Race Officials
Timekeepers: Amanda Harris
Recorders: Shirley Rutter, Ross McCarty
Callers: Robyn Moody, Brian Ogilwy, Lisa Anne Carey,
Shelley Howes
Catcher: Dale Thompson, Barry Rutter, Linda Barwick
Race Timing & Results: Jim & Adam Moody
Bib return: Liz Woodhams
Badgers: Ron Schwebel, Sam Isbell
Finance: Charles King
Newspaper Results: Jo Cowan
On the positive side, I think Athletics NSW might like to
keep this event on their calendar. If there are any
improvements you would like to mention, drop us a line,
and I will consider and present a report to our club
Committee.
I also hope I haven't missed anyone who helped out, and
I didn't take note.
Kind regards,
Glenn
10k Report for Race 5 and 6
As the newly appointed race director, I would firstly like
to congratulate Barbara Becker for her outstanding work
in putting this series together. She has created a
wonderful manual full of all the information required so
anyone could take over the role. Despite what you may
think, being the race director is fantastic (except that you
don’t get to warm up and hence, my times are terrible)
but despite that I have got to know so many more club
members, which is great!
I believe it is important that you understand who the key
people behind this event are. Firstly, there is the timing
system which Adam and Jim Moody have worked on,
tirelessly, to improve over recent years. It is working
extremely well and we have plans to streamline
registration, even more, in the future but more about that
when it is organized. Another very important member of
the 10k team is Peter Woods. Peter stores all the 10k
tables, signage etc, etc, and brings them to every race!
Now, that is a dedicated Strider for you. I don’t know
what we would do without Peter’s help. Paul Hannell is
newly appointed to look after our bibs and at the last 10k
they were all cleaned and in number sequence. Thank
you Paul. Finally to our catering hosts – thanks for
providing great food and also to my band of volunteers
who support you at every event. Names of those are
listed below each race result.
I have looked after only 2 races since taking over, as
Glenn Guzzo organized the highly successful joint race
with ANSW for the State 10k Road Championships. A
separate report about this is included. We have been so
fortunate with the weather on both occasions – the days
leading up to both were raining but someone looked
down on us favorably and - no rain! It was even a little
warm at the Homebush event on the 7th July. Now to race
results!
the 1st place getter Jeremy Horne and 2nd place getter
Tom Crasti fighting it out for a .01 second difference.
Following them was Peter Robertson who was 10 secs
behind with Chris Truscott close on his heals, 7 secs
later!!! In the women’s race Jenny Wickham was a clear
winner by 2 mins over Danielle Langsworth who is
creating new PB’s every time she races. Sally Taggart was
in third position 1 min later.
A big thank you to all my volunteers who helped on the
morning.
RACE 5 NORTH HEAD JUN
7th June – North Head
We had 411 runners finish, and those numbers are
amazing, it being a long weekend! It was a close race with
32
MEN
1 Jeremey Horne
2 Thomas Crasti
3 Peter Robertson
4 Chris Truscott
5 Cameron Good
6 Bryan Keane
7 Matthew Robbie
8 Sergio Carvalho
9 Andrew Tuckey
10 Tom Highnam
0.31.20S
0.31.21n
0.31.31n
0.31.38S
0.32.00n
0.32.16n
0.32.21n
0.32.23n
0.32.30S
0.33.00S
WOMEN
1 Jenny Wickham
2 Danielle Langsworth
3 Sally Taggart
4 Amy Stafford
5 Kate Coburn
6 Lisa-Anne Carey
7 Carey Lynn
8 Catherine Swindles
9 Ingrid Grace
10 Christine Wong
0.36.21S
0.38.22S
0.39.34S
0.39.40n
0.39.53n
0.39.56S
0.40.00S
0.40.32S
0.40.39S
0.41.34S
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
VOLUNTEERS
45mins Richard Newell
50mins Paul Hannell
55mins John Binfield
Hosts: Ron Schwebel & Richard Green plus other
striders like Barbera Becker, Paul Hannell and others
who chopped fruit!
Timing System Manager: Stephen Jackson
Equipment: Peter Woods
Bibs:
Paul Hannell
Marshalls:
1st Marshall – U turn at the start – Dale Thompson
2nd Marshall - roundabout – Deanna Lum
3rd Marshall – up at the y section as the runners do a loop
5th July Homebush
– Terry McIver
Water stop – near the start and finish- Bruce Renwick What a beautiful clear morning. With 339 finishers the
and Nicola Cowan, Ron Schwebel, and helpers
race was fast, with Colin Johnson a clear winner in 31.28,
Registration
which was 33 seconds ahead of Jeremy Horne, who was
Striders – 4 people 2 x teams
in turn followed by Charlie Low 24 seconds later. The
6.00am to 6.30am –Peter Hibbard, Charlie Coville, women’s race was very close also, with Melinda Vernon
Steficia Key
winning in a fast 35.51, followed closely by Liz Miller 28
6.30am till 7.00pm – Loraine Spanton, Steve Laws, Anna seconds later and Jenny Dallaway 3 seconds behind Liz.
White
Non Striders – 4
people 2 x 2 teams
6.00am to 6.30am –
Ross Mccarty, Paul
Hannell,
Linda
Barwick
6.30am till 7.00pm
–, Steve Urwin, ,
Greg Casis, Tony
Fattorini
Post Race – Dale
Thompson – Coordinator
scanners – x 2,
Brian Ogilvy, Anna
White
Catchers – Steficia
Key,
To add a special impetus and competitive incentive to performances on the day, the Timing Truck carried
Timer keeper a single oversize jelly bean, always in sight of the front runners
Benny Hegberg
Computer ; Steve
We had a big band of volunteers helping at this event.
Jackson, assisted by Dale Thompson
Many of them multi tasked from the set up to
Caller – Kerry Ross
registrations to marshalling and time keeping. It is great
Results recorder – Bruce Renwick
to see Terry McIver back at the club. Terry has been a
Pacers;
member for many years and no longer runs and is now
40mins Steve Hume
helping at these 10ks. Also Brian Ogilvy was fantastic,
helping me with announcements, time keeping, badging
and everything in between.
RACE 6
HOMEBUSH JUL
MEN
1 Colin Johnston
2 Jeremy Horne
3 Charlie Low
4 James Matthews
5 Ryan O'Neill
6 Keith Bateman
7 David Criniti
8 Anthony Murrell
9 Michael Killicoat
10 Clyde Rosanovski
Edgecliff Centre, Shop 1B, 203-213 New South Head Rd
Edgecliff.
Call Phil or Julian on (02) 9362 0422
33
0.31.28
0.32.01
0.32.25
0.32.26
0.33.43
0.33.45
0.33.48
0.33.58
0.34.01
0.34.07
M Pre
M Mst
M Pre
M Pre
-
1
1
2
3
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Marshalls.
1.Chris Dwyer
2.Terry McIver
3.Richard Lane
4.Glenn Lockwood
5.Ken Smith
6.Bruce Renwick
7. Philip Hodgkinson
Water stop (2) : Dale, Sean Atchinson’s teenagers, Guy
Post race
Catcher Dale Thompson, Brian Ogilvy
Dag 1 Sam Isbell
Dag 2 Tony Fattorini and baby
Results recorder: Robyn Moody
WOMEN
1 Elizabeth Miller
0.36.282 Jenny Dallaway
0.36.313 Jenny Truscott
0.38.12F Pre 1
4 Danielle Langsworth 0.39.20F Vet1
5 Amy Stafford
0.39.27 6 Liz Vadas
0.39.387 Sally Taggart
0.40.11F Vet 2
8 Julia White
0.40.22 9 Kathryn Holloway
0.40.30F Vet 3
10 Nicole Frykberg
0.41.57F Vet 4
VOLUNTEERS
Hosts: Deanna Lum and Kerry Ross
Equip: Peter Woods
Timing System: Jim and Adam Moody
Race Numbers: Paul Hannell
Sydney Running Centre: James Mathews
Course Layout: The Crinitis
Registration:
Striders
Session 1; Naomi Tancred , Mark Russell
Session 2: Zoe Cameron Guy Doulman
Non Striders Session 1Lorainne Spanton, Peter Hibbard,
Alex Douglas
Session 2 Dale Thompson,
Signage and bib return: Guy Doulman and Terry McIver
Pacers: 40 mins Ewan Horsburgh
45 mins Tim Lindop
50 mins Mark Russell
55 mins Pete Hibbard
It is great to see so many striders racing at these events.
Thanks for your support and if you have any suggestions
as to how we could improve these events please let me
know. We are continually looking at ways to speed up
registrations and to capture our results at the end. We
recently purchased a video camera which now captures
you with your time…pretty good eh! It means that if the
computer system fails, we still have you on film.
Lastly don’t forget our sponsor, the Sydney Running
Centre. Julian and his team of experts will be able to give
you all the advice that you need for the best shoes for
your feet. Support the business that supports your club!
Buy your shoes there and you will be happy that you
made that choice.
Until the next 10k…….
Jo Cowan
An email from John Turner, ex President.
----- Original Message ----From: John Turner
To: Coville
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 2:27 PM
Subject: Re: Sydney Striders Awards dinner - 23 May 2008
Charles
A special pleasure has been also to re-discover "The Blister".
Take it from me - it sets new benchmarks of affinity group
publishing excellence.
Would you please accept, and pass on to the Club, my
sincere thanks for including me in last Friday's dinner.
Clearly the Club exudes a great spirit of care and friendship,
along with inspiring athletic endeavours and an
organisational competence that belies its self-help base.
It was a real treat that evening to be so copiously reminded
of the Club's enduring strength, and the healthy lifestyle
and enjoyment it continues to provide to its members. I
particularly enjoyed meeting up again with the many old
friends who gave me such good support way back when I
was still capable of reaching my own 'personal pinnacles of
performance'. Those PBs and other challenging ventures
would never have been in my sights without Striders - a
very significant component of my well-being, then and now.
A credit to its founders and to all those who carry its
traditions forward.
Thank you and my very best wishes for the Club's future,
Sincerely
John Turner
34
A
nother milestone in
the club’s history
was achieved on
23rd May 2008 when we
had the largest-ever
turnout of members and
guests for the Annual
Awards Presentations.
These acknowledge the
achievements of our
members for 2007. We
also had the pleasure of
meeting and listening to
Bruce Fordyce whom I am
sure you have all heard of.
For those of you who have
not been to one of our
evenings at the STaR City
Casino’s Grand Ballroom it
is something that you
should correct. It is a
spectacular venue that
offers excellent service
amid spacious
surroundings and, with the
subsidy that the club
committee arranges, it is
an occasion not to be
missed.
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
have made this club what it
has evolved into today. We
are not as successful as we
are by good luck but
through the efforts of those
Presidents and Committee
members
who
have
prepared the groundwork
before us, and it was great
to be able to share the
evening with them.
All up, 233 attendees were
rewarded
with
a
memorable evening and
given the chance to
congratulate those of us
who
have
achieved
significant landmarks in
their athletic careers or
were recognized for their
input to our club and, in so
doing,
the
running
community in general.
Andrew Tuckey bonded with Bruce Fordyce until a solvent for
the superglue could be found.
Striders Awards Night 2008
A special mention must be
By JIM MOODY
made to the organizational
skills of Chris Truscott.
Chris was the “man behind
the scenes” who brought
the event together. He
coordinated with a small crew of volunteers who also
deserve an honorable mention for the time and effort
they put into the evening: Steve Cornelius, our Master of
Ceremonies for the evening, Craig Dunn who arranged
the web entry for voting and payments (while away on
holidays I may add), Lisa Carolli organized the prizes,
Charles Coville
The lucky door prize was donated back
liased
with
several times before an enthusiast finally
Bruce plus those
kept the nativity scene.
regular
members of the
committee who
collated,
collected,
posted, banked
and
generally
made
it
all
happen.
The trophies and awards
were presented during the
evening by our guest
speaker, Bruce Fordyce, by
our
founder,
Charles
Coville, the Past Presidents
and by club members who
have been involved in the
club’s activities over the
years.
Highlight of the
evening: To the
accompaniment of
a soloist playing
the recorder, the
MTG Choir, song
sheets in hand,
hummed the
National Anthem.
We were lucky
enough to have
the company of
a number of Past
Presidents who,
over the years,
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BLISTER 105
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As much as we all enjoyed watching the recipients
receive their awards the highlight of the evening was
Bruce Fordyce. An introductory speech was made by
Charles Coville which was followed by 40 minutes of
interesting commentary by Bruce.
He spoke at length about his experiences while training
for, and running, the Comrades Marathon and the
characters who have been involved. His talk was
interspersed with anecdotes, many of them very funny,
about the do’s and don’ts of long distance running, which
we all related to. He suggested that the first time you run
the race you should run the “downhill” version of
Comrades, it being somewhat tougher than the “uphill”.
This will allow you to carry the post race limp for many
more days which will provide far more opportunities to
discuss at length what you did last weekend with any
poor unsuspecting soul you may come across when they
ask the unfortunate question, “Why are you limping?”
Why does that sound so familiar?
Pauline
and Jo
present
the egg
and spoon
race
awards
To finish, the committee wishes to say “THANKYOU”
to all who attended, for supporting our club and,
another “THANKYOU” to our Sponsors who donated
the prizes we were able to present, all of which
helped make this a memorable evening.
The Comrades Marathon is a 89k race that alternates
between 2 cities on the east coast of South Africa,
Pietermaritzburg (650m above sea level), the capital of
Kwa Zulu-Natal, and the coastal city of Durban (home of
the Sharks, the Waratahs Super 14 opponent’s tomorrow
night).
Charles Coville’s Awards night remarks
Where are they now? –
7 runners attended the first meeting of Sydney Striders
Marathon and Road Runners Club on Monday 30 June
1980 at the unit of Charles Coville at 10/7Broughton
Road, Artarmon. Mike Cutcher, Ian Hutchison, Chris
Burke, Peter Derig, Roslyn Keech and Peter Barnett
responded to flyers handed out by Charles at local races
promoting the establishment of the first ever marathon
and road runners club in Sydney.
It is considered to be the world’s greatest ultra
marathons and is rated by Runners World as one of the
world’s top 10 long distance races.
It was first run in 1921 and commemorates the spirit and
camaraderie of soldiers who fell during the WW I, akin to
our old ANZAC marathon.
By 30 September 1980 there were 31 financial members,
the date of the first ever membership stocktake.
Interestingly only 2 of the famous 7 were included in the
list of 31 (Charles Coville and Chris Burke).
Only 3 of the 31 remain members today (Charles Coville,
Sue Hill and Brian
Colwell)
It’s an unbelievably tough, hilly course with unbelievably
beautiful scenery. It includes the Big 5 hills that vary in
length from 1.8k to 4k. In City to Surf we think of
Heartbreak Hill as a tough 1k climb to the halfway point
at 7k. In Comrades there is Polly Shorts.
“This is the ultimate in heartbreak hills. On the up
run it lies in wait 80 km away from Durban and is
often the make or break point for even the top
contenders. The climb is close to 2k in length and is a
formidable obstacle to any runner who has just
completed two back-to-back standard marathons”.
The first committee comprised
President / Blister editor - Charles Coville Secretary Rhon Levine Treasurer - Dave Blackhall STaR coordinator - Mike Bingham Eastern Suburbs co-ordinator Chris Burke Entertainment co-ordinator - Bernie
Liebmann Female representative - Sue Hill
I attended the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in
1967 and joined the Hockey and Cross Country Clubs.
Unable to make the cross country team to compete at the
very social Uni Games, due to Springbok and State reps at
the club, I put up my hand to volunteer for the first Wits
team to compete at an obscure event, the 1968 Comrades
Marathon, even though I had not run a standard
marathon.
Charles’ opening remarks to Bruce Fordyce’s speech
To put Bruce’s presentation into perspective I would like
to give a brief background on the Comrades Marathon
particularly for those not familiar with the race.
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BLISTER 105
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This obscure event was a race for slower / older runners
and included the legends with 5 wins each - Wally
Hayward, Hardy Ballington, Arthur Newton and Jackie
Meckler.
1) He did it when sports science and sports nutrition was
in its infancy. Bruce became involved with Dr Tim
Noakes (Lore of Running fame) research and was even
involved in the early trialling of carbo gels.
2) Bruce was an amateur. Today the winners are pros
and the winners purse is R220,000 (A$45K). Top 10
share R1M.
3) Bruce’s record is the equivalent of 2x 2h 32m standard
marathons, or 3m38s / km; or running 9 x 36m 10k
races.
4) Bruce’s down run record of 5h 24m stood for 21 years.
In the 80’s, due to Apartheid sporting sanctions, SA
runners of the equivalent of Deeks and Monners ran
Comrades. Even Deek’s biggest rival and ex world record
holder, Alberto Salazar, competed Comrades, won it, but
did not break his record. Bruce, a 2h 17m marathoner
was competing against 2h 8m marathoners, yet he still
won and his record remained.
Although only 468 finished in 1968, the race was about
to explode in popularity due to in part to the running
boom, the most watched sporting event on South African
TV and to the phenomenal achievements of S.As favourite
sporting son, Bruce Fordyce. It peaked at 19,000
finishers in 2000 when the finishing time was extended
from 11 to 12 hours.
By 1972, the race had come to be dominated by young
university students with Wits becoming the number one
ultra marathon club in South Africa. Every day students
with no great running credentials suddenly became ultra
super stars. We had 3 runners in the top 10, including
Dave Levick’s 2nd place, but no winner.
5) When Bruce’s record was finally broken last year by
Russian Olympian, Leonid Shevtsov, it was only by just
over 3 minutes, or a mere 2.2s per km.
That was until the arrival of a slight, long blond haired
Bruce Fordyce. 43rd, 14th, 3rd, 2nd and then 9 firsts, 8 in a
row. In Australia we think of records that will never be
broken as St George’s 11 premierships in a row from
1956, or Don Bradman’s batting average of 99.94. Like
those records, Bruce’s record will never be broken.
A few facts to put Bruce’s wins into perspective
In 22 days time Bruce will be running his 26th Comrades
albeit at a pedestrian 10 hour race time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the King of Comrades and the
world’s greatest ultra marathoner, Bruce Fordyce.
Broken Wing Club
as lesser known routes that link them. A source for new
Star suggestions (?) or at least for some Striders to try to
navigate somewhere new (heaven help them).
http://www.walkingcoastalsydney.com.au/
Paul Bruning says his foot is still injured. But he’s not far
away from running again.
Richard Green
Ex Strider Ray Potter had a serious cycling accident at
Homebush in early July. He is in the spinal unit at the
Royal North Shore Hospital after suffering a high cervical
spinal injury and is on a ventilator. Our thoughts are
with Ray and his family during this difficult period.
Alison's Bircher Muesli
2-3T Raspberry/blueberry coulis
2C Rolled Oats
2C Yoghurt - plain, low fat (I use Jalna)
1C milk
3T Sugar
1/2 Lemon squeezed
Others in Ron Schwebel’s training group are not to be
outdone. Dianne Aitken has Achilles Tendinosis and Anna
White, Plantar Fasciitis.
Ron says the surgical procedure to trim his meniscus may
have been more effective had they used an angle grinder,
following my apparent quick recovery from that incident.
Ed
Stir the ingredients above together then add to taste:
Sultanas
Dried Fruit
Roasted almonds or walnuts
1 apple grated
Fresh fruit
Walking trails
Please see below link to new website that has been
established by the Sydney Walking volunteers.
Sent in by Barbara Becker
Alison is a highly qualified Dr in her field and globally
recognised expert BUT for the purposes of our Blister, she's
another runner who was thrilled to complete her first half
marathon in May.
It contains some good maps (large pdfs) that show main
walking trails all over eastern & northern Sydney as well
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BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
In the movies, guys can hold their breath underwater for Delving into my second copy of Who Weekly, I gave brief
about 20 minutes and see clearly without goggles. And, thought to Amy Winehouse but then decided the
they don’t get hypothermia on the ocean floor, even potential risk outweighed the value of having an
though the temperature is about -60! But the one I really interesting evening. I settled on Jessica Alba. Following
love is when the hero plucks a flaming stick from a fire the usual protocols; my people speaking to her people
and carries it around for ages while it burns continuously etc, I got to speak to Jessica. Jessica said she’d love to do
with a solid plume of flame, lighting up a huge area. it but unfortunately, that night, she had a red hot date
When I try it, first I have to start a fire so I can pluck a with a bearded guy! “What is it with the bearded guy!” I
burning stick from it, then it burns with a pathetic flame exclaimed. “I had a beard before that guy!” But, I realized
that soon goes out and I wish I’d just gone down to the I’d been, as usual, seriously uncool and that wasn’t good.
service station and bought a torch with batteries.
I promised myself to be cool.
As well, I have to clean up
the remains of the fire when
I picked up the Who Weekly
it goes out and buy some
again. Just as I did, the phone
By DENNIS WYLIE
more furniture because I’d
rang. I picked up. It was Eva
used the kitchen table to
Longoria! She said she was
provide the wood required
sorry about not being able to
for the fire in the first place.
do the show but it wouldn’t
look good on her C.V. “All
Why can’t real life be like
those sweaty bodies!” she
the movies? Here’s what
complained. I said they
Winners of the Blister Article of the year. Tony Fattorini and
happened at our awards
wouldn’t be sweaty on the
Amanda Underwood with Beatrix.
night - in real life.
night in question but she
The Art of Cool
said that they will have
sweated at some time and
her publicist would know
that. She couldn’t do it.
However, knowing how
much it meant to me she
thought she’d like to make
amends. To wit, she would
like to come over to my
place with a bottle of
Champagne, after the show,
promising, “We can have
some fun!”
Many
Striders
were
disappointed
at
the
announcement that Eva
Longoria wasn’t to be up
there on stage with me on
Awards night. She was
meant to read out the name
after I ripped open the
envelope. I was looking
forward to having my ideal
woman up there on the
podium with me. But, two
days beforehand, she rang
and said, “What is this
Striders ‘thingee’, anyway?”
I explained our Awards night to her and she said, “I can’t
do it! It’s not my scene. I only do evenings where bunches
of tuxedo clad, bearded guys get up to receive awards.”
Reminding myself to be cool,
I answered, “Sure, and if I’m
late, let yourself in but, don’t wait up for me, ok?” And I
hung up quickly so she couldn’t say no.
On the big night, I made no mention of all this. It was just
“down to business”. But, Eva Longoria-less, my stage
performance suffered. I delivered my speech about the
“best Blister article” with all the flair of a Font Row
Forward wearing a Tutu. Afterward, I heard someone
say, “Who was that brash, confident, brilliant speaker”,
and then point to Steve Cornelius.
I did a quick mental whip around to see how many
bearded guys there were within the club, whom I could
tempt her with. Jim Moody, previously, had a resplendent
beard, the equal of three ordinary beards but in that one
selfish act of shaving it off last year he had reduced the
club tally by 50%. Then, we were almost saved when
Glenn had a sudden flourish of growth but then he
disappeared before we could enjoy seeing it bloom into
lustrous perfection. We simply couldn’t summon enough
beardies. My hands were tied.
Three months later...
Eva hasn’t been around, although I have spotted a
limousine with blackened windows on several occasions.
I assume it’s her. But, she maintains a stony silence and
I’m wondering just how many invitations, phone calls
and text messages I should send her now that it is
obvious that I had previously been too cool. It must have
been the jump from uncool to super cool that phased her.
There’s just one question, I’d like answered. What would
she really like for Valentine’s Day?
I did what anybody else would do in my situation; I got
out the Who Weekly. Not my first copy. I usually find the
first copy only makes it to half way through the week
before it becomes so dog-eared and well thumbed as to
be practically useless. Apart from that, most of the ink
has come off onto my hands. Or sometimes, onto my feet
and face. For that reason, I always get two copies to last
the whole week.
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BLISTER 105
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Mountain Running Report
A number of Striders took part in the third season of
the Kembla Joggers Mountain Running series, which
began in September 2007 and ended in February 2008.
The series is reassuringly low key and welcoming and is
a great way to build strength for races such as the Six
Foot Track. The races are scheduled either at 8am on a
Saturday or Sunday morning, to allow runners from
Sydney to get there without having to wake up at a
ridiculously early hour, or at around 3.30 in the
afternoon.
The series consists of a number of tough mountain
races, with distances ranging between 5km and 35km,
generally involving a challenging climb over the scenic
heights of Bulli, Figtree and Wollongong. The following
is a brief description of a few of the courses:
The Brokers Nose Goat Race is the shortest race of the
series, at 5km, but is one of the toughest. It involves an
ascent of approximately 400m, a number of (literally)
staggeringly steep climbs, and at times requires
participants to scramble on their hands and knees.
Great fun!
The Bulli to Tarrawanna race is a 22km run consisting
of an out and back course above Woonona and
Corrimal. It is an “undulating” run, taking runners
through rain forests and throwing in a number of mud
holes as obstacles.
Sydney Striders Annual Awards dinner
recognizing achievements of 2007
Half Marathon Awards
Open Male Winner
Runner Up
Open Female Winner
Runner Up
Chris Truscott
Tom Highnam
Jenny Wickham
Jenny Truscott
1:10:50 SMH
1:12:21 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
1:18:29 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
1:22:40 SMH
Veteran Male Winner
Runner Up
Ray Wareham
Guy Doulman
1.12.38 Sydney Marathon festival – Half
1.16.06 Sydney Marathon Clinic
Veteran Female Winner
Runner Up
Joanne Barton
Dianne Aitken
1.28.26 SMH
1.29.37 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
Masters Male Winner
Runner Up
Christopher Dwyer 1.19.26 Christchurch
Dennis Wylie
1.21.24 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
Masters Female Winner
Runner Up
Joanne Cowan
Mary Stringer
1.31.38 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
1.35.27 Gold Coast
Seniors Male Winner
Runner Up
David Robinson
Ray Doran
1.33.17 Sydney Marathon festival – Half
1.33.39 SMH
Seniors Female Winner
Runner Up
Tina Campbell
Helen Wilson
1.52.17 Sydney Marathon festival – Half
2.00.45 SMH
Super Senior Male Winner Manfred Fiedler
Runner Up
Frank Dearn
1.58.28 SMH
2.25.26 Sydney Marathon festival - Half
Legend Male Winner
2.14.00 SMH
Ron Daly
39
The Figtree to Mt Kembla race is
fondly referred to by
participants as “Stalky’s Horrible
Half” as, despite being advertised as
a 14km race, it soon became
apparent that the race director, Geoff
Stalker, had slightly underestimated
the distance and understated the
number of hills included!
The longest run of the series is the
Escarpment Classic, which starts and
finishes at the Bulli Beach Kiosk. The
35km course includes a number of
steep climbs which reward the
runner with great views and fresh
air and is definitely worth the trip
from Sydney.
The 2007 – 2008 series was won by
Tony Fattorini, who was rewarded
with a lovely carved wooden trophy
and sore legs.
The 2008 – 2009 series will
commence in September 2008. For
details of the races and the series
schedule, go to CoolRunning or the
Kembla Joggers website
(www.kemblajoggers.org.au).
BLISTER 105
MAY - AUGUST 2008
Marathon Awards
Open Male Winner
Glen Guzzo
2:24:57 Cities Marathon
Runner Up
Marathon
David Criniti
2:28:38 Canberra
Open Female Winner
Jenny Wickham
2.50.18 Gold Coast
Runner Up
Danielle Langsworth
3:07:31 Canberra
Veteran Male Winner
Guy Doulman
2:47:00 Canberra
Runner Up
River
Ray Wareham
2:47:29 Macleay
Sub 4-Hour Marathon Improver Award
Winner
Phil Skurrie
(PB of 0:41:24 - 16.78% mprovement)
Runner Up
Allan Caulley
(PB of 0:42:13 - 15.96%)***
Improver of the Year
Winner
Shelley Howes
Encouragement Award
Winner
EJ Davie
3.25.23 Gold Coast
3.42.22 Melbourne
Triathlete Of The Year Award
Winner
Charles Coville
Ultra Runner of the year
Veteran Female Winner Danielle Langsworth
3:07:31 Canberra
Runner Up
3.12.54 Gold Coast
Cheryl Hounslow
Masters Male Winner
Bruce Renwick
3.05.52 Canberra
Runner Up
Stephen Jackson
3.15.08 Sydney
Masters Female Winner Dianne Aitken
3.18.55 New York
Runner Up
Dale Thompson
3.40.27 Gold Coast
Seniors Male Winner
Luigi Criniti
3.37.20 Sydney
Runner Up
Heiko Schaefer
3.58.52 Berlin
Male Winner
Tim Cochrane
Female Winner
Allison Lilley
Blister Article of the Year Award
Winner
Tony Fattorini / Amanda Underwood
STaR Host of the Year Award
Winner
Ben McSweeney & co.
Presidents Award for Excellence
Winner
Kevin Tiller
Maria Gemenis-Cruickchank Outstanding Achievement Award
Winner
Allison Lilley
10k Handicap winner 2007 Craig Thom
Equaliser winner 2007
SPECIAL MENTION
Amanda Underwood helped greatly during the
compilation of this magazine while I was under
work and other pressures. She did most of the
editing and proof reading and also wrote the front
and second-to-last page editorials. Ed
David Criniti
Debut Marathon Award
Male Winner
Tim Cochrane
2.32.32 Melbourne
Runner Up
Andrew Tuckey
2.33.58 Sydney
Female Winner
Dianne Aitken
3.18.55 New York
Runner Up
Jo Pai
3.33.06 Chicago
Sub 3-hour Marathon
Winner
Nick Brewster
River (PB of 0:10:54 - 5.84% improvement)
Runner Up
Jaap Bakker
(PB of 0:04:11 - 2.34%)
2.55.50 Macleay
All sorts of items are suitable for inclusion in
Blister. To be suitable, an item merely has to be
about running or about a member (as long as it
relates to running}. You don’t have to write about
the biggest or most remote race in the World. It
could just be about training or injury. There are
events on all the time. Even an event we all do can
be of interest when it is presented from someone
else’s point of view.
2.54.55 Gold Coast
Feel welcome to contribute to your magazine. Ed
40